


m 



5B5M5IE 



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How 

To 

Succeed 



AS AN 



01 



INVENTOR 



D 



44 One way to measure your suc- 
cess is by the earnestness with 
which your competitors lie about 
you/' — Poor Richard, Jr.'s, Almanac* 



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HOW TO SUCCEED 
AS AN INVENTOR 



SHOWING THE WONDERFUL 
POSSIBILITIES IN THE FIELD 
OF INVENTION; THE DAN- 
GERS TO BE AVOIDED ; THE 
INVENTIONS NEEDED; HOW 
TO PERFECT AND DEVELOP 
NEW IDEAS TO THE MONEY 
MAKING STAGE /. .'. .'. .'. 



BY 

GOODWIN B. SMITH 

Registered Attorney, United States Patent Office, and Officially Connected with 
a Number of Industrial Enterprises Founded on United States Patents 



PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A. 
INVENTORS AND INVESTORS CORPORATION 

1909 



A c 



Copyright, 1909, by Goodwin B. Smith. 
All Rights Reserved. 



;-Y of congress 
two t J !ved 

APR 26 1U03 

Class ^- xac, iNo, 



Chapter I. 
Chapter II. 
Chapter III. 
Chapter IV. 
Chapter V. 
Chapter VI. 
Chapter VII. 
Chapter VIII. 
Chapter IX. 
Chapter X. 
Chapter XL 

Chapter XII. 
Chapter XIII. 
Chapter XIV. 
Chapter XV. 
Chapter XVI. 
Chapter XVII. 



table of contents 

PAGE. 

Looking Forward 1 1 

Looking Backward 14 

Patents the Greatest Source of Wealth 21 

Successful Inventors 22 

Field of Invention 27 

Growth of the Field of Invention 32 

Necessary Steps 38 

Sounding the Market 48 

Practical Development 49 

Lower Cost — Superior Merit 50 

Application for Patents, Etc 51 

Picture of U.S. Patent Office. 

Marketing 54 

Discouragements and Dangers 56 

Selling Patents 60 

Conclusion 62 

Statistics of the Countries of the World 63 

Mechanical Movements and Explanation Thereof 65 



Man's Value to Society 

Failure is want of knowledge ; success is know- 
ing how. 

Wealth is not in things of iron, wood and stone. 
WEALTH is the brain that organizes the metal. 

Pig iron is worth $20 per ton; Made into horse 
shoes, $90; into knife blades, $200; into watch 
springs, $1000 ; that is, raw iron, $20, brain power, 
$980.— Newell Dwight Hillis. 



^eaicateo to ttye 
dfftano atm? of American 3]nt)entor$ 



"How to Succeed as an Inventor" 

PREFACE 

THE author of this book, after a number of years' experience in 
Patent Causes, is constrained to enter a strong protest against the 
enormous waste and loss attendant on methods at present pursued 
in regard to patents. This loss and waste is largely due to a lack of busi- 
ness knowledge necessary to properly market and develop inventions. His- 
tory shows that enormous profits can be earned from good, strong patents. 

A careful perusal of the following pages will point out some of the 
dangers to be avoided and the safe and reasonable course to be pursued. 
Invention is a matter that requires the deepest study, and should be ap- 
proached, not in a haphazard, hit-or-miss fashion, but rather in a recep- 
tive, studious, analytical manner. While the average individual is fond of 
giving advice, no one enjoys accepting it. There is no one, however, who 
so needs competent, unprejudiced advice as the inventor. 

A genius is more or less prejudiced in certain directions, and it has been 
found that the prejudice oftentimes runs against the acceptance of well- 
intentioned criticism. 

"Our judgment is like our watches, — none go just alike, but each believes 
his own." 

It is to be hoped that this volume will be the means of saving, as well as 
earning, money for the hosts of deserving American geniuses. 

Philadelphia, March, 1909. The Author. 



CHAPTER I 

LOOKING FORWARD 

''Patience and the investment of time and labor for future results are essential 
factors in .every inventor's success." 

The field of invention is closed to no one. The studious mechanic may 
design and improve on the machine he operates. The day laborer, if dis- 
satisfied with his lot, may devise means for lessening the toil of his class, 
and Largely increase his earning capacity. The busy housewife, not content 
with the drudgery incident to her household cares, may devise a means or 
article which will lighten her task, and prove a blessing to her sisters. 
The plodding clerk, without an iota of mechanical knowledge, may perfect 
a system or an office appliance which will prove of vast benefit to himself 
and his fellows. The scientist may discover new forces and make new 
applications of old principles which will make the world marvel, — and so 
on through the whole category of crafts, occupations and professions. 

If one of the old Kings of Israel, centuries ago, voiced the sentiment that 
there was nothing new under the sun, do we not possess, at the present 
time, a similar mental attitude, and are we not apt to say with him that 
there appears to be "nothing new under the sun" ? Civilization begets new 
needs and wants ; opportunities for new invention are multiplying at a tre- 
mendous rate. In other words, where an inventor, two centuries ago, 
would have had one hundred chances to "make good," today the chances 
are multiplied many thousand-fold. 

No avenue of business can open up the possibilities of such enormous 
honors and fabulous money returns as a real invention which is in univer- 
sal demand. The discoveries of the past form a record which is not only 
glorious, but points the man of genius of today in an unswerving manner 
to the possibilities which the future holds, and which are vastly greater 
than anything which has gone before. Each age finds the people convinced 
that human ingenuity has reached the summit of achievement, but the 
future will find forces, mechanical principles and combinations which will 
excite wonder, and prove to be of incalculable benefit to mankind. 

Our old friend Darius Green and his flying machine, that we heard about 
when we were children, was not as great a fool as he was imputed to be. 

ii 



12 How to Succeed as an Inventor. 

i 

Witness at the present time the marvelous results attained by inventors 
with air ships. We are proud of Wilbur and Orville Wright, who at this 
writing have just broken all records for Aeroplanes, or "machines heavier 
than air." It seems that in five or ten years from now the navigation of 
the air will be a problem perfectly solved. 

(Since writing the above, on Thursday, September 17th, Orville Wright, 
at Fort Myer, Va., met with an accident to his machine, which resulted in 
the death of Lieutenant Self ridge, of the U. S. army, and severe injuries 
to the inventor. The accident is said to have been due to the breaking of 
one of the propellers.) 

When you think that the first locomotives that were invented were con- 
sidered wonders if they made a speed of eight to ten miles per hour, the 
chances are that within the next few years we will have airships going 
through space at incredible rates of speed. 

We might also, at this time, refer to the experiments of Count Zeppelin 
and Santos-Dumont, and the American, Professor Baldwin, in "dirigible 
balloons." This type of airships will undoubtedly be superseded by trie 
"Aeroplane," or the "Helicopter." The principal inventors in this line are 
Henry Farman, the French inventor, and Delagrange, the German. Wright 
Brothers hold the world's record, at this time. 

Little did Murdock (who erected, in 1792, while an engineer in Corn- 
wall, England, a little gasometer which produced gas enough to light his 
house and office) think that in the year 1908 no house would be considered 
as modern unless it was fully equipped with the gas for lighting and 
heating which he discovered and brought to practical use. It is also said 
that "while Murdock resided in Cornwall he made gas from every sub- 
stance he could think of, and had bladders filled with, it, with which, and 
his little steam carriage running on the road, he used to astonish the people.". 
No one is astonished at "little steam carriages," or, in other words, auto- 
mobiles, nowadays, one hundred and sixteen years later. 

Our grandparents, when they were young people, imagined that they 
were living in the "Golden Age," and yet we today would consider their 
lack of what we nowadays consider positive necessities a mighty primitive 
and inconvenient manner in which to live. When the "wisest man," cen- 
turies ago, is chronicled as saying, "There is nothing new under the sun," 
they lived in tents, rode camels, fought with bows and arrows, sling shots 
and battering rams ! While the Tower of Babel was possibly the first "sky- 
scraper," it did not contain express elevators, hot and cold water, tele- 
phones, call boxes, yale locks, granolithic floors, fire escapes, transom lifts, 
automatic sprinklers, stationary wash stands, water closets, steam or hot 



Looking Forward 13 

water heat, electric and gas lights, push buttons, sash weights, and so on 
ad infinitum. So you can readily appreciate the marvelous strides the 
human race is making in the way of material development, and all, or 
nearly all of which has been due to the fertile brain and nimble wit of the 
inventors ! Who will have the temerity to say when and where this devel- 
opment will stop, when Solomon, centuries ago, thought they had reached 
the limit? 

What will be the next wonderful invention? For instance, the perfected 
telephote? You, by stepping into a cabinet in Philadelphia, could have 
your photograph taken and shown in Boston, all by and through an electric 
wire! The Telephote may transmit light and color as the Telephone does 
sound ; why not a combination of the two, so you can see your friend per- 
fectly when you talk to him on the 'phone? 

Our grandparents thought they were as comfortable as possible, and they 
were, because they did not know any better. Do we know better? One 
hundred years from now, possibly, our great, great-grandchildren will con- 
sider us as having lived in the "stone age." The field of invention has no 
bars up, — you, all of us, are free to enter. 

"The important thing in life is to have a great aim, and to possess the aptitude 
and perseverance to attain it." 



CHAPTER II 

LOOKING BACKWARD 

"Intelligent study and the application of unremitting effort to a definite purpose 
are the factors that overcome obstacles." 

Here follows a list of the principal inventions chronologically arranged, 

with the names and nationalities of their inventors. 

Year. Name of Invention. Name of Inventor. Nationality. 

1620 Spirally grooved rifle barrel Blaew German. 

1643 Barometer Torricelli Italian. 

1660 Discovery of Electrical Phenomena . . . .William Gilbert English. 

1663 Steam engine Thos. Newcomen English. 

1690 Steam engine with piston Denis Papin French. 

1702 First practical application of steam engine. Thos. Savory English. 

1709 Thermometer Fahrenheit . Danzig. 

1725 Franklin printing press Benj. Franklin U. S. 

1 72> l Stereotyping William Ged Scotch. 

1733 Weaving flying shuttle John Kay English. 

1745 Leyden Jar Kleist German. 

1752 Lightning conductor Benj. Franklin U. S. 

1763 Spinning jenny Jos. Hargreaves English. 

1 767 Piano England. 

1775 Cut nails Jere. Wilkinson U. S. 

1777 Circular wood saw Miller . . . English. 

1 782 Steam engine Jas. Watt Scotch. 

1783 Balloon inflated with gas Montgolfier French. 

1784 Puddling iron Henry Cort English. 

1784 Cast iron plow Jas. Small Scotch. 

1786 Steamboat John Fitch U. S. 

1787 Steam road wagon, first automobile. .. .Oliver Evans U. S. 

1788 Threshing machine And. Meikle '...English. 

1791 Wood planer Sam'l Bentham English. 

1794 Cotton gin Eli Whitney U. S. 

1800 Electric battery Volta Italian. 

1 80 1 Fire-proof safe Richard Scott English. 

1 803 Steel pen Wise English. 

1804 Malleable iron castings Lucas English. 

1808 Band wood saw Newberry English. 

1808 First sea-going steamboat John Stephens U. S. 

1810 Revolving cylinder printing press Fred'k Koenig Germany. 

181 1 Breech-loading shot gun Thornton & Hall U. S. 

18 1 4 First locomotive, U. S Geo. Stephenson English. 

1815 Miner safety lamp Sir Humphry Davy ... English. 

18 1 5 Gas meter Clegg English. 

1823 Discovery of water gas Ibbetson English. 

1825 Portland cement Aspdim English. 

1827 Friction matches John Walker U. S. 

1828 Hot blast for iron furnaces Neilson Scotch. 

1829 Washington printing press Sam'l Rust U. S. 

183 1 Chloroform Guthrie Scotch. 

1832 Electric telegraph Prof. Morse U. S. 

1832 Rotary electric motor Sturgeon English. 

1832 "Old Iron Sides" locomotive Baldwin U. S. 

1833 Steam whistle Geo. Stephenson English. 

1834 Reaper Cyrus H. McCormick. . U. S. 

1834 Carbolic acid Runge German. 

1835 Horse-shoe machine Burden U. S. 

1836 Acetylene gas Davy English. 

14 



Looking Backward 15 

Year. Name of Invention. Name of Inventor. Nationality. 

1836 Revolver Sam'l'Colt U.S. 

1836 Screw propeller for steam navigation. . .John Erickson U. S. 

1837 Galvanizing iron Craufurd English. 

1839 Babbitt metal Isaac Babbit U. S. 

1 839 Vulcanizing rubber Goodyear U. S. 

1839 Daguerreotype Louis Daguerre French. 

1840 Artesian wells French. 

1842 Automatic piano Seytre French. 

1844 First telegram sent Prof. Morse U. S. 

1845 Double cylinder printing press Richard Hoe U. S. 

1845 Pneumatic tire Thompson . " English. 

1846 Sewing machine Elias Howe U. S. 

1846 Ether as an anaesthetic Dr. Morton U. S. 

1847 Nitroglycerine Sobrero 

1847 Improved floe printing press Richard Hoe U. S. 

1849 Steam pressure guage Bourdon French. 

1849 Corliss engine George H. Corliss U. S. 

1850 Mercerized cotton . Tohn Mercer English. 

1851 Breech-loading rifle Maynard U. S. 

185 1 Ice-making machine Gorrie U. S. 

1852 Telegraph fire alarm Channing & Farmer. . .U. S. 

1854 Diamond rock drill Herman U. S. 

1854 Revolver Smith & Wesson U. S. 

1855 Cocaine Gaedeke German. 

1855 Bessemer steel Sir Henry Bessemer. . English. 

1855 Bicycle Michaux French. 

1856 Sleeping car Woodruff U. S. 

1858 Cable car Gardner U.S. 

1858 First Atlantic cable Cyrus Field U. S. 

1859 "Great Eastern" launched U. S. 

1 86 1 Passenger elevator E. G. Otis U. S. 

186 1 Barbed wire fence U. S. 

1862 Gattling gun Dr. R. J. Gattling U. S. 

1865 Antiseptic surgery Sir Jos. Lister English. 

1866 Open hearth steel process . . . '. Simens-Martin English. 

1866 Torpedoes Whitehead U. S. 

1868 Typewriting machine C. L. Sholes U. S. 

1868 Dynamite Nobel French. 

1868 Oleomargarine Mege French. 

1868 Sulky plow Slusser U. S. 

1869 Spring tooth harrow Garver U. S. 

1870 Celluloid Hyatt U. S. 

1872 Automatic brake Geo. Westinghouse . . . U. S. 

1872 Car coupler E. H. Janney U. S. 

1873 Ouadrupjex telegraph Thos. A. Edison U. S. 

1873 Twine binder harvester Gorham U. S. 

1873 Self-binding reaper Loche & Wood U. S. 

1875 Roller flour mills Wegmann U. S. 

1875 Ice-making machine Pictet Switzerland. 

1876 Telephone Dr. Alex. Graham Bell . U. S. 

1877 Phonograph Thos. A. Edison U. S. 

1877 Gas engine N. A. Otto U. S. 

1877 Telephone transmitter Emile Berliner U. S. 

1878 Carbon filament for electric lamps Thos. A. Edison U. S. 

1878 Rotary disc cultivator Mallon U. S. 

1880 Telephone transmitter Blake U.S. 

1880 Hammerless gun .Greener U. S. 

1880 Typhoid bacillus Robert Koch German. 

1880 Pneumonia bacillus Sternberg U. S. 

1881 Buttonhole machine Reece U. S. 

1882 Tuberculosis bacillus - Robert Koch German. 

1882 Hydrophobia bacillus Louis Pastur French. 

1884 Cholera bacillus Robert Koch German. 

1884 Diphtheria bacillus Loefler German. 

1884 Lockjaw bacillus Nicolaier French. 



1 6 How to Succeed as an Inventor. 

Year. Name of Invention. Name of Inventor. Nationality. 

1884 Antipyrene * Kuno ..U. S. 

1884 Linotype machine Ottmar Mergenthaler . . U. S. 

1885 First electric street railway in the U.S Baltimore, Md. 

1885 Overhead electric trolley Van Depole U. S. 

1886 Graphophone Bell&Tainter U.S. 

1887 Cyanide process McArthur & Forest . . U. S. 

1887 Incandescent gas light Carl Welsbach German. 

1888 Harveyized armor plate Harvey U. S. 

1888 Kodak snapshot camera Eastman & Walker . .U. S. 

1890 Bicycles equipped with pneumatic tires U. S. 

1890 Magazine rifle Krag-Jorgensen U. S. 

1 89 1 Rotary steam turbine Parsons English. 

1893 Kinetoscope ; . Thos. A. Edison U. S. 

1893 Carborundum E. G. Acheson „ . U. S. 

1893 Calcium carbide electrically produced. ..Thos. L. Wilson U. S. 

1895 Liquifying air Carl Linde German. 

1895 X-rays Prof. Roentgen German. 

1895 Acetylene gas from calcium carbide ...Thos. L. Wilson U. S. 

1896 Wireless telegraphy G. Marconi Italian. 

1896 Finsen rays Finsen Danish. 

1898 Non- whittling lead pencil F. H. Lippincott U. S. 

1900 Mercury vapor electric light Peter Cooper Hewitt. . . U. S. 

1901 Airship M. Santos-Dumont French. 

190 1 Automobile mower Deering Harvester Co..U. S. 

From the Encyclopedia Americana. 

"There are no elevators in the house of success." — Silent Partner. 

Since the above list (taken from the Encyclopedia Americana) was 
published, there have been a large number of very important inventions 
brought out. 

In 1898 Professor and Madam Curie, of Paris, discovered radium. This 
remarkable substance is extracted from pitch-blende. It is said to require 
the reduction of about five thousand tons of the blende to produce one 
pound of radium. The cost of one pound of radium is variously estimated 
at from one to three millions of dollars. Radium overturns all the laws 
of chemistry and physics. Scientists state "that if a method of producing 
it cheaply is ever discovered it will create the greatest revolution in indus- 
trial circles. One pound of radium is said to be capable of lighting an 
enormous area for one billion years without reducing its size or substance 
by one thousandth part. In other words, it exerts abnormal energy with- 
out any appreciable loss. 

In 1902, January, Peter Cooper Hewitt, of New York City, announced the 
invention by him of his Mercury Vapor tube electric light. This light is 
red-less,— gives off all colors except red. It is in present use in many large 
establishments. It is practically indestructible, and gives eight times as 
much light with the same amount of electricity as other lights. Mr. Hewitt 
is a wealthy man, having inherited money. He comes of the famous New 
York Hewitt family, whose members have been in the forefront of prog- 



Looking Backward 17 

ress. Mr. Hewitt also invented the "Hewitt Electrical Converter" and the 
"Hewitt Electrical Interrupter," both inventions of unusual merit. 

In 1903, January 18th, Guglielmo Marconi sent a wireless message from 
Cape Cod, Mass., to Cornwall, England, a distance of 3000 miles. Such a 
thing, a few years ago, would have been considered absolutely impossible, 
— unbelievable, — a wild flight of the imagination. Marconi's achievement 
was accomplished only after the most prolonged experimentation and many 
disappointments. 

In 1908, September 12th, Hudson Maxim filed an application for a patent 
on an electrical invention for the prolongation of human life. 

In 1908, Professor Alexander Graham Bell and Professor Emile Ber- 
liner, famous inventors in telephones, are working on new styles of flying 
machines. With these experts in the field, aerial navigation will, no doubt, 
shortly be a problem completely solved. 

NOTES. 

In 200 B. C, Hero, of Alexandria, gives an account of an ingenious 

steam toy. 

* * * 

In 1543, one Blasco de Garay is said to have shown in the harbor of 

Barcelona, Spain, a vessel of two hundred tons' burden, moved by a paddle 

wheel driven by steam power. 

* •* # 

In 1663 Edward Somerset, the ingenious Marquis of Worcester, con- 
trived the first steam engine. 

* jjc * 

In 1742, when Benjamin Franklin invented the "Franklin Stove," or as 
it is sometimes called, the "Pennsylvania Fireplace," he refused to accept a 
patent on it, saying, "we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of 
others, so we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by an in- 
vention of ours." An unscrupulous London manufacturer made some light 
changes in Franklin's stove, we are sorry to state, got a patent on it, and 
made a fortune from its sale. 

An invention of the greatest utility was that brought out in 1788 by Wil- 
liam Symington, a young Englishman, for a method of converting the reci- 
procating motion of an engine into the rotary. 

* * * 

About 1790, Claude Chappe, a Frenchman, while at school at Angers, 
contrived an apparatus consisting of a post bearing a revolving beam and 
circulatory arms with which he conveyed signals to three of his brothers 



1 8 How to Succeed as an Inventor 

who were at another school about half-a-league distant, who read the sig- 
nals with a telescope. In 1792 the French Legislature voted Chappe 6000 
francs ($1200) to enable him to make experiments in Paris. This inven- 
tion of Chappe was called the "Semaphore Telegraph." Of course, misty 
or foggy weather would preclude the use of this signalling device. During 
the war between England and France an amusing incident is related of the 
use of the "Semaphore Telegraph." The admiral at Plymouth started a 
"wigwag message" to Whitehall, but was able to forward only part of the 
message, a thick fog gathering over a portion of the line and interrupting 
the message. The first part of the message was "Wellington defeated," 
which caused great distress and anxiety in London. The remainder of the 
message, "the French at Salamanca," received next day, changed the metro- 
politan sorrow into gladness. 

* * * 

About the year 1790, Signor Galvani, a professor of anatomy at Bologna, 
discovered the principle of Galvanic electricity. This was brought about in 
a very peculiar way. Mrs. Galvani was ill, and her physician prescribed 
some frog broth. Accordingly, frogs were procured, skinned, washed and 
laid on a table in the professor's laboratory, which seemed to serve a 
double purpose of a room for scientific and culinary operations. One of 
the professor's assistants was engaged in experimenting with a large elec- 
tric machine which stood upon the same table, and had occasion to draw 
sparks from the machine. The wife of Galvani, who was present, was sur- 
prised to* observe that every time he did so the limbs of the frogs moved 
as if alive. She immediately communicated this strange incident to her 
husband, who repeated the experiments with, of course, the same result. 
From this experiment was later developed the so-called zinc and copper 

wet jars used in the art. 

* * * 

In 1807, Robert Fulton, who was of Irish Descent, made his famous trip 
in his steamboat, the "Clermont," from New York to Albany, a distance 
of one hundred and fifty miles, in thirty-two hours, and returned in thirty 
hours, averaging about five miles per hour. Many stories are told of the 
consternation the "Clermont" excited in those who saw her for the first 
time. People who had seen her passing at night described her as "a mon- 
ster moving on the waters, defying wind and tide, and breathing flames 
and smoke." The steamboats, at that time, used pine wood for fuel, which 
sent columns of ignited vapor many feet above the stack, and whenever 
the fire was stirred enormous showers of sparks would fly off, which in 
the night produced a very brilliant and beautiful effect. Sailors and sea- 



Looking Backward 19 

men on vessels that had never seen a steamboat were scared speechless, and 
in many cases prostrated themselves, and besought Providence to protect 
them from the approaches of the horrible monster which they saw. 

* * * 

In 1835 Thomas D. Edmundson, a station agenr on the New Castle and 
Carlisle line, in England, invented the first railroad ticket. The inventor 
for several years devoted himself entirely to the ticket industry, and by 
degrees a business arose which became one of the largest in the world. 

In 1840 the Government issued the first postage stamps. 

* * * 

George Stephenson died in 1848 at the age of 67, a wealthy man, beloved 
and honored by all. Statues of him were erected at Liverpool, London 
and Newcastle. In Rome, Italy, a tablet bears this inscription: "In this 
Rome, from whence wondrous roads proceed to the empire of the world, 
the employees of the Roman railways, on the Qth of June, 1881, worthily 
commemorated the centenary of George Stephenson, who opened still more 
wondrous roads to the brotherhood of the nations, and whose virtues, in- 
spiring to great works, have left an undying example." During an exami- 
nation before a Parliamentary Committee George Stephenson was asked, 
"Suppose, now, one of your engines to be going at the rate of nine or ten 
miles an hour, and that a cow were to stray upon the line, and get in the 
way of the engine, would not that be a very awkward circumstance ?" 
Stephenson replied, "Yes, very awkward for the cow." In the course of 
the same examination he was asked, "But would not men and animals be- 
come frightened by the red hot smoke pipe?" to which question Stephenson 
replied, "But how would they know that it was not painted?" These ex- 
tracts indicate some of the difficulties inventors had to contend with. 

jjs * * 

In 1876 two hours after Bell filed his patent for his telephone, Elisha 
Gray, of Boston, filed an application for a similar device. Bell won, and 
has been awarded great honors for his invention. It was at first referred 
to as a "scientific toy." It is now a necessity* 

* * * 

In 1880 Marthelemay Themonier, a Frenchman, was mobbed for building 
a sewing machine, by laborers who thought his machines contrary to their 
interests. d B H il 1 

"Victory belongs to the most persevering." — Napoleon. 
"Success is the child of audacity." — Beaconsfield. 



20 Hozv to Succeed as an Inventor 

By-Products 

Many men mistake obstinacy for perseverance. 

* * * 

Anybody can slide down hill, but it takes good legs and good wind to 

go up. 

* * * 

A third of our lives is spent in bed— that's why we ought to hustle the 

other two-thirds. 

* * * 

Waste is criminal. The old proverb says, "Waste not, want not." And 
it is true. 

Anybody may drink at the fountain of knowledge, but you've got to 

bring vour own cup. 

# # * 

The farther you look back into the history of industry and invention, 
the more you will be impressed with the fact that almost everything has 
improved as our ability to produce it has increased. 

* * * 

Wireless telegraphy would never have come about had not the other 
kind preceded, and it is impossible to imagine the phonograph's being ahead 
of the telephone. 

•{: jjc jjj 

Without illuminating gas and gasoline, Welsbach lights would never 
have been thought of or possible. 

We would have no electric lights without the dynamo, and no dynamo 
if wire-drawing had not first been perfected. 

So* it goes — everything is dependent on factors that have preceded and 
any achievement of today is the result of thousands of years of previous 

effort and thought. 

* * * 

And the knowledge that we are adding to the world's store today is but 

the foundation for further advance by men to come. 

* * * 

As long as we don't know everything there will be things we cannot 
explain and these things will be called chance. Into the life of every 
human being there enter these inexplicable occurrences. 

Silent Partner. 



CHAPTER III. 

PATENTS THE GREATEST SOURCE 
OF WEALTH 

"Upon what meat does this, our Caesar, feed, that he has grown so great?' 
Shakespeare. 

THE SOURCES OF WEALTH. 



The diagram belozv shozvs very clearly 
the rich men of the world, and the source 
of their wealth : 



ist. Natural Wealth. 

Secured by Mining, Drilling and Dig- 
ding. Examples: 

John D. Rockefeller, 
Henry H. Rogers, 
Barney Barnaio, 
and many others. 

2nd. Real Estate. 



The cry nowadays is that there arc no 
chances for accumulating wealth as did 
these people — in some ways this is right. 

Three of the avenues to wealth are 
pretty well closed: Taking each up in turn 
zee find 



First. 

Mines and Oil Wells are becoming 
scarcer every year, and there are few 
which remain undiscovered. 



Second. 



Advances in value as by buying lots 
in a growing city and taking advantage I 
of its growth. Examples: l Real ] - state takes an inside knowledge 

^ of conditions, which none but men who 



Hetty Green, 
The Vanderbilts, 
Russell Sage, 
and many others. 

3rd. Transportation. 

Steam Railways, Electric Railways, and 
Steamboat lines. Examples: 

The Goulds, 
Thomas J. Ryan, 
E. H. Harriman. 

4Th. Patents. 

Inventions on articles in use in the 
manufactures, the arts, the home. Ex- 
amples: 



Carnegie, 

Schwab, 

Krupp, 

Pullman, 

Welsbach, 

Hewitt, 

Acheson, 

Marconi, 



Edison, 

Maxim, 

Westinghouse, 

Bell, 

Singer, 

McCormick, 

Colt, 

Bessemer, 



and thousands of others. 



give the subject deep study can hope to 
acquire. 



Third. 

Transportation requires big capital, and 
the small investor on the "outside" has 
no chance whatsoever. 



Fourth. 

PATENTS ARE TO-DAY THE 
GREATEST SOURCE OF WEALTH. 

"Genius, that power which dazzles mortal 

eyes, 
Is oft but perseverence in disguise." 



21 



CHAPTER IV. 

SUCCESSFUL INVENTORS 

"Lives of great men all remind us, 

We can make our lives sublime, 
And departing, leave behind us, 

Footprints on the sands of time." — Longfellow. 

The long list of famous patentees with their inventions which a previous 
chapter contains is an eloquent testimonial to the fact that fame, fortune 
and an undying place in history will be given to anyone fortunate enough 
to conceive and work out. a new idea which inures to the benefit of man- 
kind. While these famous inventors have been devising and exploiting in- 
ventions of wide scope and large calibre there have been an army of small 
inventors which should be equally as famous and whose inventions will, 
probably, on the average, return larger proportionate profits to their own- 
ers than have a great many of the prominent ones already listed. The 
writer has in mind small inventions, such as, for instance, Mrs. Pott's Sad 
Iron ; the De Long Hook and Eye ; the Gilette Safety Razor ; Enterprise 
Meat Chopper ; Junof orm Bust Form ; Push-point Pencil ; Bromo Seltzer ; 
Morrow Coaster Brake ; Brass Tips for Boys' Shoes ; Mennen's Talcum 
Powder; Rubber Tips for Lead Pencils; Bundy Time Clock; President 
Suspenders; Pianola; Cast or ia ; Angelus; O'Sullivan's Rubber Heel; 
Macey's Sectional Bookcases; Red Dwarf Ink Pencil; 1900 Washing Ma- 
chine ; Tyden Table Lock, and the thousands of similar small inventions, 
practically all of which are bringing or have brought enormous fortunes 
to their owners and developers. 

King C. Gilette has become a wealthy man from the royalties and profits 
on his safety razor. While safety razors had been on the market for years, 
it took Gilette to bring out a better one, patent it, and make his fortune. 
The inventor of the President Suspender is said to have collected over 
fifty thousand dollars last year in royalties on the sales of over two hundred 
thousand dozen pairs of his suspenders. Miss Wolfe, the inventor of the 
Junoform Bust Form, it was remarked recently, would attain wealth from 
her royalties. Mrs. Potts is reputed to have collected over half a million 
dollars from royalties from the patents on her sad iron. 

It is also said that the Selden Gas Engine royalties exceed ten million 
dollars in amount. It is stated that McCornack, the inventor of a Cream 
Separator, has an annual income from his patents of over thirty thousand 
dollars. It is said that the inventor of the new-style "pay-as-you-enter" 

22 



Successful Inventors 23 

street car will receive a large royalty on every car of that style used in 
the United States. They are at present coming into use on the metropoli- 
tan street car lines. Everybody is familiar with the enormous fortune 
made by Pullman with his palace car patents. 

NOTES. 

It is related that when George Westinghouse called on Commodore Van- 
derbilt to endeavor to interest him in his air-brake, Vanderbilt said to him : 
"Do you mean to tell me that you can stop a train of cars by wind?" and 
when informed that in effect that was what was contemplated, remarked 
that he had no time for fools. Sometime afterward when, through the 
support of Andrew Carnegie and several others, a successful test of the 
brake had been made, Westinghouse had the satisfaction, according to the 
story, of replying to Vanderbilt's request for a conference, "I have no time 

to waste on fools." 

* ^ * 

Ottmar Mergenthaler worked twenty years on the development of his 
linotype machine, and ten years thereafter in perfecting it. The Mergen- 
thaler Linotype Company has paid out twenty millions of dollars in divi- 
dends in fourteen years. The romance of the invention of the linotype 
brings out in glaring letters PERSISTENCE, as Edward Mott Woolley 
states in "System," of September, 1908, in an article describing the devel- 
opment of the linotype machine. 

^s jji %. 

It is related of Oscar Hammerstein, the well-known theatrical proprietor, 
that when he was fifteen years old he landed from a steamer at the Bat- 
tery in New York, after running away from his German home. He was 
without money or friends, or any place to go. He got a job in a cigar 
factory at $2.00 per week. Making cigars by hand seemed to him a poor 
way of doing it, so he began experimenting on his own account, and four 
years later he had a machine to do the work. He sold this machine for 
$6,000 cash, and immediately started on a new one, which in place of sell- 
ing outright he had manufactured on a royalty basis. It is said that he 
has received over $250,000 in cash from his royalties. Yet today Hammer- 
stein is not known by his inventions, but by the big theatrical enterprises 

which have earned or lost other fortunes for him at various times. 

* # * 

In the struggle of Charles Goodyear to manufacture a rubber compound 
that should fulfil mercantile needs is presented a striking, if rather familiar 
example of what eternal persistence will finally accomplish, and of how it 
may be assisted by what we call "luck." When he was twenty-one Good- 



24 How to Succeed as an Inventor 

year entered a rubber house in Philadelphia and began experimenting in 
India rubber. By chance one day a little rubber mixed with sulphur fell 
on a stove, and he at once realized what might be accomplished by what is 
now known as vulcanization. To carry on his experiments he was required 
to pawn the school-books of his children to raise money. However, he 
kept everlastingly at it, and was rewarded with a number of international 
prizes and decorated by several foreign rulers. His name has gone down 
to fame as' one of the successful inventors of the world.- The Goodyear 
Rubber Company bears his name. 

5 H H* *j» 

The public today is familiar with the record of Thomas A. Edison, who 
is considered the greatest inventor the world has ever known. The new 
book which has recently come out, "The Life of Thomas A. Edison," is 
well worth purchasing and reading. The public press reported he had won 
his infringement suits and that the "Moving Picture" trust or combination 
agreed to pay him royalties running into a sum of seven figures. 

* * * 

George Ade, the "funny man," is independent financially from the 

royalties paid him on his copyrights. 

* * * 

The story of the De Long Hook and Eye Company is the history of an 

infinitesimal start with an enormous present size. 

* * * 

Sir Henry Bessemer is said to have been paid $10,000,000 in royalties on 

his steel process. 

* * * 

Emerson, a Baltimore druggist, made a number of fortunes from his 
invention of Bromo-Seltzer. Likewise Mennen, of talcum powder fame, 
whose face and name are known all over the world. 

* *H *K 

Landis, a Franklin county (Pa.) man, sold his "Straw Stacker" patents," 
it is said, for $50,000 cash, — practically all profit. 

This list, if complete, would fill volumes, but it would be a story with 

the same ending in each and every case. 

* * * 

A careful study of the reason why all the above patents have proved to 
be so successful emphasizes the fact that inventors, to succeed, must not 
lose sight of the Six Cardinal Tests enumerated elsewhere in this volume. 



Successful Inventors 



25 



Press and Pen 




REMIND US OF INVENTIONS THAT HAVE BROUGHT 

FAME AND WEALTH 



CHAPTER V. 

FIELD OF INVENTION 

"If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better 
mouse-trap than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the world will 
make a beaten pathway to his door." — Emerson. 

Inventions, to possess commercial merit, must supersede in utility simi- 
lar devices already on the market. They must also possess capacity for 
production at lower cost, as well as having conspicuously superior merit. 
The field of invention is a broad one, and embraces any new electrical ap- 
pliances, engineering devices, improvements in steam navigation, agricul- 
tural implements, railways, household novelties, novelties in hardware and 
tools, pencils and toys, vehicles, furniture, toilet articles, wearing apparel, 
office appliances and devices. 

INVENTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED. 

Electrical. 

A simple, cheap and powerful electric motor ; electrical motors adapted 
to use of either direct or alternating current ; improvements in the fila- 
ments of incandescent bulbs, something along the lines of the new Tunsten 
filaments ; new, cheap substitute for gutta-percha for insulating ; simple 
method of generating ozone for medical and disinfecting purposes ; method 
for generating electricity direct from coal without the incidental produc- 
tion of light and heat ; a new, indestructible incandescent lamp filament ; a 
new style of incandescent lamp that will give more light and use less cur- 
rent ; a simple means for preventing the blowing out of fuses, and yet 
preventing the overloading of the motors ; method of extracting electricity 
from the earth. (NOTE: A number of experiments have been carried 
out along this line with partial success.) A method of storing electricity 
generated during a severe electrical storm. (NOTE: This is not consid- 
ered practicable by electrical engineers, although it is possible that some- 
one may hit on a way of accomplishing it.) A simple, light accumulator 
for storing electricity. 

Chemical. 

A substitute for paper pulp; strong, tough, thin, flexible paper; substitute 
for glass in eye-glasses, telescopes, opera glasses, and other optical lenses ; 
a cheap, artificial substitute for indigo ; method for deodorizing petroleum, 
gasoline, naphtha and similar volatile oils without changing their quality; 

27 



28 Hozv to Succeed as an Inventor 

method of deodorizing asphalt; method of deodorizing paint; method of 
increasing the life and durableness of soft rubber; simple means for pre- 
serving butter ; new shoe blacking free from sulphuric and acetic acids ; 
cheap substitute for matches; method of removing nicotine from; tobacco; 
method of utilizing vulcanized rubber scrap ; substitute for leather ; method 
for producing artificial mica in large sheets ; artificial flavors of tea and 
coffee, similar to the commercial artificial extract of vanilla ; cheap method 
of producing sugar from starch; method of producing pure carbon; sub- 
stitute for celluloid ; substitute for asphalt ; method for producing flexible 
glass. 

Mining and Metallurgy. 

First and foremost is the method of hardening and tempering copper ; 
cheap method for extracting gold from brick clay, ore, sand, etc. ; cheap 
method for procuring iron direct from ore without the intervention of the 
blast furnace; method for producing malleable pig iron; cheap method of 
producing high-speed steels for tools and the like; machine to separate 
slate from Anthracite and Bituminous Coal. (NOTE: It should be some 
process not requiring water settling-tanks.) Process for casting copper 
without blow holes ; solder for cast iron ; cheap method for recovering tin 
from old tin cans and the like. 

Railways and Military. 

Note. — It has been found extremely hard to introduce railway patents. We would, 
therefore, most earnestly advise our American inventors not to spend any time and 
money on inventions such as car couplers, steel railway ties, block signals, and the 
like. In this class we would suggest so-called "small-inventions." 

Efficient air gun as a weapon ; improvements in army tents ; improve- 
ments in dirigible balloons and aeroplanes for military uses.* (*NOTE: 
This is a big undertaking, and we would not advise any of our clients to 
enter it.) 

Machinery, Tools, Steam Engines, Etc. 

Simple means of adjusting ball bearings; attachment for lathes, such as 
taper cutting devices, grinding attachments ; attachments for planers for 
producing curved surfaces; attachment for drill press for radial boring; 
new and improved tools of all kinds and descriptions ; simple and cheap 
bone crusher ; simple and cheap, bone cleaner ; simple and cheap casting 
machine for small foundries; simple and cheap molding machine for small 
foundries ; machine for casting under pressure ; substitute for fly wheels 
on engines ; efficient safety stopping devices for engines ; substitute for 
governor ; cheap and efficient denatured alcohol motor ; substitute for belts 
and pulleys ; simple, cheap and efficient anti-friction bearings ; machine for 

r 



i 



Field of Invention .29 

automatically sewing buttons on clothing; tool for cutting ice without 
waste ; cheap music turner. 

Recording and Vending Machines, Office Appliances, Etc. 
Simple, cheap and efficient cash register ; cash register that will throw 
out false coins ; machine for vending newspapers ; electrically driven type- 
writer ; cheap substitute for fountain pen ; cheap substitute for lead pen- 
cil ; indestructible writing pen ; reliable gas meter ; reservoir lettering 
brush. 

Lighting, Heating and Ventilating — Building Construction. 

Indestructible gas mantel for Welsbach lights ; method of simultaneously 
lighting all the burners in a room, or house; automatic valve closing device 
for shutting off gas when not ignited ; brick-laying machine ; method of 
glazing without the use of putty; window sash that will not bind or stick 
in the frame ; substitute for sash weights ; substitute for spring shade 
rollers; substitute for carpet nails; new, cheap, springless lock; substitute 
for hinges on doors ; cheap, efficient door check and buffer. 

Auto Vehicles. 

Durable and unpuncturable tires ; cheap and efficient power meter ; cheap 
and efficient dust preventer ; improvements in all the details of automobile 
and vehicular construction ; substitute for motor wheels. 

Miscellaneous. 
Textile: 

Substitute for horse hair ; substitute for broom fibre ; substitute for 
asbestos; substitute for silk; method of coating cheap fibres with silk; 
method of spinning asbestos ; substitute for an umbrella ; one-piece 
covering for umbrellas, etc., etc. 

Printing: 

Method for multi-color printing with but one impression ; method 
for printing sheet metals ; substitute for printing blocks ;* (*NOTE : 
Must be light in weight, and non-inflammable.) Substitute for litho- 
graphic stone ; a firm, black, copying, printing ink ; method for photo- 
graphing in colors. 

Agricultural. 

Machine for harvesting sugar cane ; substitute for cotton bale tie ; 
method or machine for exterminating caterpillars ; method or machine 
for exterminating mosquitoes ; improvements or new devices for use 



30 How to Succeed as an Inventor 

of farmers, agriculturalists, truckmen, florists, and similar vocations ; 
method or machine for annihilating flies. 

General. 

Substitute for rubber fire hose ; method for profitable utilization of saw 
dust ; substitute for hair pin, or one that will not fall out ; envelope that 
cannot be opened. 

WHAT NOT TO INVENT. 

Non-refillable bottles. 

Nut locks. 

Metal railway ties. 

Railroad rail joints. 

Patent medicines. 

Gar couplers. 

Hooks and eyes. 

Safety pins. 

Hair curlers. 

Washing Compounds. 

Trolley pole catchers. 

Bending machines, unless absolutely new idea, and style. 

Adding machines, unless absolutely new idea and style. 

Present style typewriters. 

Turbine engines, unless absolutely new idea, and style. 

Submarine boats. 

Our reason for advising inventors to stay away from the above classes is on ac- 
count of the fact of the killing competition in these classes, and the additional fact 
that the field is absolutely overcrowded. The attorneys that have applied for the 
hosts of patents for inventors in these lines .have "rung all possible changes" in their 
claims for patents into which it is possible to twist and turn the English language. 

Wants Fulfilled. 

In a publication on Patents published about fifteen years ago, the follow- 
ing articles were asked for, which have since been invented, and which 
are making their inventors money : 

Cheap ice machine. 

Denaturated alcohol. 

Cheap calcium carbid. 

Method of preserving milk. 

(Note the organization of the "White Cross Milk Companies" in the cities of 
Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Baltimore and Washington, at this writing. Milk 
prepared by this process is said to keep for several months, and will be absolutely 
free from germs and bacilli. It is a new process.) 



Field of Invention 31 

Smokeless gun powder (now in almost general use). 

Iron and steel railway ties. (They have been found mechanically im- 
practicable and have been discarded by the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 
pany.) 

Safety device for rifles and revolvers. (Everybody is familiar with the 
"Hammer the Hammer" advertisement.) 

Milking machine. 

Bread cutting machine. 

Pocket cigar lighter. 

Steam heating for trains. 

The above list will serve as an illustration of the fact that inventors are 
persistently supplying what the world needs in the way of new devices and 
machines. 

SUPPLY AND DEMAND. 

"Where there's a will there's a way." 

Do not imagine that anyone is lying awake at night waiting for your in- 
vention to come out, because they are not. All of us consider ourselves 
pretty comfortable, and we are not bothering much about any new inven- 
tions. Another mistake inventors often make is that of endeavoring to make 
the public want their device. The proper thing to do is to invent something 
that the public already wants. In other words, "follow the lines of least 
resistance." 

There are many good things which are very ingenious, and perfectly 
novel and patentable, but which are in lines in which there would not be 
enough sale in ten years to pay the inventor the expense of getting out 
patents. Yet plenty of such things are patented almost every week, in this 
country. "Some time there could be but one customer, — say, the govern- 
ment, or some great corporation, — and there may be reasons which are 
obvious, and others not so plain on the surface, why you could not even 
make them a present of your invention." 



CHAPTER VI. 

GROWTH OF THE FIELD OF INVENTION 

The following pages concisely show the marvelous growth of the Field 
of Invention from Primitive Man's Three Fundamental Wants, namely, 
Food, Clothing and Shelter, to the present-day countless necessities of 
Twentieth Century life. The same marvelous broadening of the field is 
found in all directions. The few illustrations given on the following pages 
will illustrate the point, and direct the thoughts of the student unerringly 
to the almost illimitable sphere of invention. 



32 



Growth of the Field of Invention 

CHAPTER VI. 

CHART PARTIALLY ILLUSTRATING THE VAST GROWTH OF THE 

FIELD OF INVENTION PROM PRIMITIVE MAN'S THREE 

FUNDAMENTAL NEEDS TO THE PRESENT DAY 

ESSENTIALS OF CIVILIZATION. 



33 



Plant: 

Cultivatin 

Harvosti 

Stock Rai8 

Slavish teri 

Marketing 

Hun tin 

Fishin 

Pre pur in 

Stor5 

Amusement 



FOOD :::: THEN AND NOW 
B.C.- Manna & Roots 
1909 ■■ 15-course Dinner 




lone traction 

laterials 
> ec orating 
[ardware 
\irnishing 
denting 
[edicine 
ilea tin^ 
Fleming 
e fending 



SHELTER : THEN AID NOV/ 
B. C. - Caves & Tents 
1909 - Skyscrapers 



TRANSPORTATION: 

THEN AND NOV/ 

- Camels & Oxen 

- Autos & Flying 
Machines 

hips 
anking 
hoes 

ailroads 
Vehicles 
utos 

il 
ubrays & Tubes 
elegraph 
elephone 



NOTE: A .further analysis of the above, together with the 
sub-division, "Transportation", (a natural outgrowth of the 
three primary needs) will be found on the following pages. 



Copyright 1909 by Goodwin B. Smith • 



34 How to Succeed as an Inventor 







FOOD 






H 
A 
R 
V 
E 
S* 
T 
I 
N 
G 


Scythes, 

Sickles, 

Rakes, Reapers, -p T ant-tnt 4 \ Garden Tools, Plows. Harrows, 

Mowers, ^^ XJ,J " w \ Rollers, Planters.Seed Drills, etc. 

Binders, 

Threshers, 

Stackers, f Cultivators, Sprinklers, 

Loaders, CULTIVATING \ Weeders. Insect 

Unloaders, (Destroyers, Fertilizers, etc. 

Grain-elevators, etc. 


STOCK RAISING { 


Fences, Harness, Incubators, Brood- 
ers, Milking Machines, Creameries, etc. 


M 
A 
R 
K 

E 
T 

I 
N 
G 


Crates, Boxes, 
Stores, Scales, 
Packages, 
Delivery-systems, 
Office Appliances, 
Stationery, 
Printing, 
Pens, Pencils, 
Inks, Rubbers, etc 


s^AtrGHTEBnro { g^Slt^s, etc. 

TTTrwaiT-wfi / Bows and Arrows, Snares, 
huwtiwo | Traps, Guns, Bags, etc. 


xiTcn'T-Krr* S Nets, Hooks, Lines, 

f i.s>&ijmu j Boats> Canneries, Kits, etc 


P 
R 
E 
P 
A 
R 
I 
N 
G 


Cutlery, 

Stoves, 

Kettles, 

Broilers, 

Ovens, 

Condiments, 

Grinding, 

Distilling, 

Evaporating, etc. 


S 
T 
O 
R 

I 
N 
G 


Elevators 

Refrigerators, 

Canning, 

Curing, 

Drying, 

Pickling, 

Evaporating, etc. 




- 






A 
M 

IT 
S 
E 

M 
E 
N 
T 
S 


Musical 

Instruments 

Theatres, 

Parks, 

Cards, 

Games, 

Toys, 

Moving 

Pictures, etc. 


- 








Copyright 1909, by Goodwin B. Smith. 



Growth of the Field of Invention 



35 



SHELTER 



C Tools, Engineering 

O Excavating, 

N Masonry, 

S Wood-working, 

T Elevating, 

R Stone-cutting, 

U etc. 

C T I O N. 



P 
U 
R 
N 

I 



I 
N 
G 



Carpets, Rugs, 

Fixtures, 

Furniture, 

Bedding, 

China, 

Cutlery, 

Glass-ware, 

Periodicals, 

Books, 

etc. 



HARDWARE { Builders, 



CLEANING 



Mill House, etc. 



f Brooms, Brushes 
I Sweepers, Soaps, etc. 



D Sling shots, Bows 

E and Arrows, Guns, 

P Revolvers, Shot, 

E Burglar Alarms, Armor, 

N Military Battle Ships, 

D Insurance: Fire, Life, 

I Accident, Burglary, 

N Liability, etc. 

G Explosives, Air-ships, etc. 



M Quarrying, 

A 

T Cement. 

E 

R 
I 



Plaster, 
Steel-Structure, 



etc. 



{Brasiers, Stoves. Furnaces, 
Hot air, Hot water, Steam, 
Vapor, Electricity, etc. 



( Paint, Varnish, Wall Paper, 
DECORATING < Molding, Carving, 

I Polishing, Photography, etc. 



iwrPTvrr*Tia , T" / Drugs, Instruments, 
MEDICINE j Specifics> Toxins> etc! 



f Lamps, Burners, 
LIGHTING < Oil, Gas, Electricity, 
( Acetylene, Glass, etc. 



Copyright 1909, by Goodwin B. Smith, 



2,6 How to Succeed as an Inventor 





• 

CLOTHING 




M 


Spinning, Weaving, 




A 


Bleaching, Tanning, 




N 


Curing, Sorting, Pick- 




XJ 


ing, Carding,, .Shearing, 




P 


Vulcanizing, Mixing, 




A 


Cutting, Fitting, Lining, 




C 


Buttons, Threads, 




T 


Sewing Machines, 




V 


etc. 




R 


I N GK 

M Cotton, Wool, Linen. 
A Leather, Silk, Straw, 
T Fur, Feathers, Rubber, 
E Felt, Fibre, Paper, 
R Wood, Pulp, etc. 
I A L S. 




J 


Precious Stones, Rings, 




E 


Chains, Necklaces, 




W 


Bracelets, Pins, Brooches, 




E 


Pendants, Watches, Pocketbooks, 




Im 


Accessories, Perfumeries, 




R 


Cosmetics. 




Y 


ETC. 

M Advertising, De- 
A partment Stores, 
R Adding Machines, 
X Cash Registers, 
E etc. 
TING. 






Copyright 1909, by Goodwin B. 


Smith. 



Growth of the Field of Invention 



37 



TRANSPORTATION 



A Horses, 

N Camels, Oxen, 

I Mules, 

M Llamas, 

A Dogs, 

Ii Burros, 

S Elephants, etc. 



V Sleds, Chariots, 

E Jinrikishas, Carts, Wagons, 

H Sleighs, Coaches, Hearses, 

I Coffins, Carriages, Cabs, 

C Velocipedes, Wheel-Barrows, 

Ii Trucks, Cars, Trams, 

E Tricycles, 

S Bicycles, etc. 



S 



S 



Sandals, 


R 


Horse, Steam, 


Snowshoes, 


A 


Cable, Compressed, 


Skates, 


I 


Air Trolleys, 


Roller-skates, 


L 


Third-rail, Elevated 


Rubbers, 


R 


Monorail, Alcohol, 


Boots, 


O 


Motors, Gasoline 


Gaiters, 


A 


Motors, Electric 


Slippers, 


D 




Motor Skates, etc. 


S 


Motors, etc. 



S Rail, Steam Propeller, 

K Turbine, Submarine, 

I Balloons, Dirigibles, TEIi- 

P Aeroplanes, E- 

S Helicopters, etc. PHONE 



f P 



Poles, Exchanges, 
irectories, Phonographs, 
raphophones, etc. 



i Wiring, Insulation, Batteries 



TEL- 
E- 1 Poles, Conduits, Semaphore, 

GRAPH I Stock Tickers, Switchboards, etc. 



A Steam, Gasoline, 

U Alcohol, 

T Electric, 

O Elevators, 

S Moving Stairways, etc. 



M Envelopes, Stationery, 

A Postage, Expressage, 

I Pneumatic Mail boxes, SUBWAYS 

Jm Letter boxes, etc. AND TUBES 



/ Reinforced Concrete, 
I Air-L 



locks, etc. 



BANKING ( Species, Banknotes, Vaults, 



and Safes, Checks, etc. 



Copyright 1909, by Goodwin B. Smith. 



CHAPTER VII. 

NECESSARY STEPS 

"In any business, it is to-day's unknown facts that wreck the machine tomorrow. 
Therefore, find out the facts." 

Almost all inventors show an unusually needless amount of haste in 
rushing off to an attorney and applying for a patent, even before they have 
given their idea any practical demonstration whatsoever. This is, in the 
opinion of the writer, all wrong, and is not the most practical way to pro- 
ceed. The application for patent, and filing of carefully drawn specifica- 
tion and claims, is, of course, highly important and necessary, but it should 
not be undertaken until after the most searching, practical tests of the in- 
vention, as well as the most careful investigation as to the public demand 
for your idea, as it is from the latter source that profits will come. The 
care with which your specification is written, and the claims drawn, will 
regulate the strength of your protection against infringers. Don't forget 
that the red seal and blue ribbon on a worthless patent are just as red and 
blue as they are on a high-grade, "suit-proof," one that has stood the tests 
of the courts from bottom to the top. - 

WHAT THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT SAYS. 

"The specification and claims of a patent, particularly if the invention 
be at all complicated, constitute one of the most difficult legal instruments 
to draw with accuracy, and in view of the fact that valuable inventions are 
often placed in the hands of inexperienced persons to prepare such specifi- 
cation and claims, it is no matter of surprise that the latter frequently 
fail to describe with requisite certainty the exact invention of the patentee, 
and err either in claiming that which the patentee had not in fact patented, 
or in omitting some element which was a valuable or essential part of his 
actual invention." Topliff vs. Topliff, 145 U. S. 156. 

The highest court of the land thus puts itself on record in reference to 
the importance of having the specification and claims of your patent prop- 
erly drawn. It is equally as important to have your models, drawings, pat- 
terns, etc., accurately designed and executed. 

Every week the "Official Gazette," published by the U. S. Patent Office, 
is chock full of new, novel and ingenious devices on which patents have 
been granted, but which are in lines in which the demand and sales are so 
very restricted that the profits in seventeen years will scarcely pay for the 

38 



Necessary Steps 39 

cost of the patent. As Dr. Grimshaw, Ph.D., M. E., a celebrated inventor 
and scholar, known to many Americans, and at present residing in Ger- 
many, so aptly puts it, it is well to remember "There are some lines in 
which competition is so fierce that there would not be any use in coming- 
into the field. If the Marquis of Worcester, Watt, Fulton and Morse, Whit- 
ney and Howe, Edison and McCormick, and a dozen more of the great in- 
ventors of the world, past and present, were to put their heads together, 
and get up a new car-coupler, the chances are that they could not get 
thirty cents for the patent. The thing is overdone." 

Many, many, hard-earned dollars are annually expended by inexperi- 
enced inventors in the building of ornate, nickel-plated models that from a 
practical, business stand-point are commercially impossible, and never will 
amount to anything. While they are splendid in "theory," and pretty to 
look at, and talk about, yet in "practice" and real utility they are of no 
value. Don't go to the expense of a model until you know your device is 
patentable, mechanically practicable, commercially salable, and in demand 
in the markets of the world, and in a class in which there is no killing 
competition. 

Caveats have proven to be, oftentimes, worse than worthless. The Gov- 
ernment fee is $10; the attorney fee from $10 to $25. When you file your 
application you are notified by the U. S. Patent Office of an interference 
suit, if someone else happens to file an application along similar lines. It 
is then "up to you" to show that "you thought of it first," usually a very 
expensive and disappointing task. Don't apply for a caveat, is the writer's 
advice. 

Confidence is the bed-rock foundation of all business today, so don't be 
afraid of anyone trying to steal your idea. A simple and inexpensive 
means to follow is to have a rough pencil sketch and description of your 
idea, dated and signed by yourself and two competent witnesses. Then, if 
the question of priority of invention is raised, you have a strong document 
to substantiate your claims to priority. 

If your idea will pass muster on the Six Cardinal Tests, (1) as regards 
patentability; (2) as regards mechanical practicability; (3) as regards its 
possession of superior merit and low cost of production; (4) as regards a 
large and constant public demand for it; (5) as regards to its being bet- 
ter, cheaper and more salable than similar devices already on the market ; 
(6) as regards to the competition it will encounter, — then, and only then, 
are you justified in spending time and money in applying for a patent, and 
having proper working model built, etc. Don't rely on your own judgment 
in such matters, — it is of necessity greatly prejudiced, and rightly so. You, 



40 How to Succeed as an Inventor 

as an inventor, are in the same relative position as the mother of a new 
baby. Both of you undoubtedly feel that your offspring possesses all the 
graces, and has no bad points whatsoever. But your invention Hoes not 
have as good a show, at least no better, than the new baby has of develop- 
ing into a "world-beater" or prodigy. In both instances it will require 
careful development, much study, and the hardest kind of work to make a 
moderate success of the new infant. Another point to remember is that 
the one who is responsible for its successful development is entitled to 
more credit and greater rewards than the father of the idea or infant. 

A Patent Attorney, must, of very necessity, be disposed to find practi- 
cally everything submitted to him "to be patentable." Some firms go so 
far as to mail their guarantees that ideas are patentable, but your idea has 
five other points in which it may "fall down." Mere patentability is only 
one-sixth of the necessary ground you must cover. Your friends may 
think you are a genius, a wonder, and you may be, but don't let their 
adulation turn your head to the extent of your forgetting the six tests 
necessary to your idea's success. If you are sick, you go to the best physi- 
cian you can find; if your horse is sick, you send for a veterinarian'; if 
you are required to go to Court, you retain a good lawyer to represent your 
side, — you don't try to cure yourself, or your horse, or defend yourself. 
You go to a specialist in these lines. Follow the same sane method in your 
patent matters. The "no-cure-no-pay" doctor is not highly regarded, 
neither are patent firm's that do a "contingent fee" business on the "no 
patent-no pay" basis. Cut rates are also to be shunned. Good service de- 
mands and can exact commensurate returns. Economy in these matters is 
a poor policy to pursue. 



Necessary Steps 41 

Analysis of the Six Cardinal Patent Tests. 

"If I am building a mountain, and stop before the last bucketful of earth is 
placed on the summit, I have failed." — Confucius. 

First : Would it be possible to cover my idea or invention by a good, 
strong, basic patent? 

First and foremost, the thing to do is to find out if your invention can 
be properly covered by a good, strong patent, — a basic patent, if possible, 
and if not basic, at least, one covering some novel elements which would 
prevent unscrupulous imitators and dealers from substituting "something 
just as good" for your invention. In this connection we might say that 
any bright attorney can find some way in which an alleged patent can be 
issued practically on anything, so very little dependence can be placed, as 
a rule, on "preliminary searches" that are furnished "free of cost." Expect 
to pay at least $5.00 for it, and ask for the references the search develops. 
We place the covering of an invention by strong letters patent first, as we 
consider it of the utmost importance that an invention, to be a commercial 
success, must grant its owner a virtual monopoly. 

Second: Is my invention mechanically practicable? 

There are a great many ideas which of themselves are good, and still 
are not of themselves of any value. It is of equal importance, in order to 
make a success of an invention, to have it conform to certain recognized 
mechanical principles, and capable of economical production through the 
regular trade and manufacturing channels. In other words, an invention 
nowadays would be seriously handicapped if it was necessary to revolution- 
ize the present equipment of factories to bring it out. 

(In this connection it might be interesting to note that Thomas A. 
Edison, in an article published in "The Star," of Washington, September 
17th, 1908, said that in his opinion Wright Brothers were working on the 
wrong principle with their flying machine. In Edison's opinion the machine 
should not be dependent on the skill of the operator, but should be capable 
of automatic operation somewhat similar to an automobile or the loco= 
motive.) 

Third : Can my invention be more cheaply manufactured than similar 
devices already on the market? 

If your invention will enter the markets of the world in close competi- 
tion with other devices of similar nature, it is necessary that it possesses 
the possibility for lower cost of production than the articles it will meet 
in competition. If it costs more to make, it will be heavily handicapped 
from the start. If it costs less to make it will have this additional ad- 
vantage pulling in its favor from the start. 



42 How to Succeed as an Inventor 

Fourth: Does my idea possess conspicuous novelty and superior merit 
over similar devices already on the market? 

The established, advertised article in the markets of the world always 
has a great advantage over new and relatively untried devices. A new 
article, to succeed, must show at a glance that it is "something better." In 
addition to that, it must have superior merit which will at once make it 
possible to bring about a quick sale in competition with the article already 
on the market. If your invention is better, costs less to produce, has more 
"talking points," dealers will be quick to buy it. Otherwise, possibly not. 

Fifth : Is there a large, constant, public demand for my invention, or its 
product ? 

Public demand for anyone's invention practically regulates its success, 
from a commercial .standpoint. If there is no public demand for it, there 
can be no individual profit derived from it. In other words, it is useless 
to apply for a patent on any art, machine or process where the demand for 
its use is very limited. For instance, it would be ridiculous to patent a 
process for performing one single act or function, the demand for which 
would cease as soon as the act or function was accomplished. To illustrate, 
some years ago, while building the City Hall, in Philadelphia, it was neces- 
sary to raise the enormous statue of William Perm to the top of the tower. 
This was quite an undertaking, and a great many bright men cudgeled 
their brains as to the best means of accomplishing the result. It would 
have been very foolish to patent the means by which the statue was put 
on the top of the tower, because after it was placed on the top there would 
be no further demand for the process or means by which Penn was raised 
to his elevated position. 

"Little and often tills the purse" is a familiar quotation to many of us, 
and is especially applicable to the profits to be made from inventions. 

Sixth : Is there killing competition in the class to which my invention 
belongs ? 

If your device is likely to run into a section of the trade of the world 
where questionable tactics and high-pressure methods are necessary to 
keep one's head above water, our advice to you would be, "Don't do it !" 
as it would possibly be better to "follow the lines of least resistance," and 
spend your time and money on something where you would have a better 
chance for success. 

In the year 1909, what chances do you think an inventor would have in 
starting a business in competition with the United States Steel Corporation, 
or the American Sugar Refining Company, or the Standard Oil Company, 



Necessary Steps 43 

or the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, or the Paper Trust, or the Bell 
Telephone Company, or the Moving Picture Trust, or the American Can 
Company, or the Baldwin Locomotive Works? These enormous aggrega- 
tions of brains and capital would make it quixotic to attempt to compete 
with them in the markets of the world. Yet you may be able to invent 
something they would be glad to purchase ! 

If your patent is weak or deficient in any one of these six cardinal tests 
it is heavily handicapped to just that extent in the race for success. Do 
not depend on your own judgment, as your judgment is naturally preju- 
diced, and will not, most likely, reflect a dependable forecast of the public 
attitude toward your invention. It will be cheaper in the long run to get 
reliable counsel in these respects before you start, rather than learning it 
from bitter experience. 



Necessary Steps 47 



Terse Suggestions 

This is the day of short cuts. If you take the long way 'round, you will 
never "arrive." Cuts, to be short, need not be poorly done with a blunt 
knife. The cleverest surgeon is he who can perform the biggest operation 
in the shortest time. Learn to do things quickly, but do them well. 



In this hustling world we must "get there," and "get there quick," not 
only in our conversation but in all our work. We must avoid non-essen- 
tials. 

Spend your time and money on money-savers rather than on frills. Do 
your work under a system, and stick to it. Do not have a too elaborate 
system, however. 

* * * 

With the machine work of the Twentieth Century method, fine hand 
work is now considered a luxury. 

* * * 

Doift beat about the bush. Get right down to the point. The swiftest 
road to success has the fewest curves. 

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is 
made of." — Franklin. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SOUNDING THE MARKET 

"People are always to be found who think anything with which they are not 
familiar cannot be good." 

If the average inventor goes out among his friends with his invention 
and asks them their opinion of it, he will hear some such expressions as 
this : "Old man, you are a marvel \" ! "You will be a millionaire some day, 
sure thing!"; "That looks a big winner!"; "Beats anything I ever saw!" 
and so on. But such comments are absolutely worthless. Many an in- 
ventor's head has been turned by just such praise. It is all well-rrfeant, 
best-intentioned, and highly gratifying, but as an indication of what will be 
likely to happen to your invention it is worse than valueless. It is grossly 
misleading. Your friends want to encourage you, help you. They see only 
your invention's good points, not its vital weaknesses. They are not "skilled 
in the art," — are not in a position to judge competently at all. Do not de- 
pend on any such opinions. Go to* a specialist in such lines. Will a 
stranger to you buy your invention in preference to the ones already on 
the market? If so, he exacts a lower price or a better article, which 
amount to the same thing. Can you manufacture your invention and sell 
it at a good profit in competition with others ? Will the wholesalers handle 
it? Can they do so at a good profit? Has it good selling and talking 
points, or do you need to make excuses for it? Is the field now over- 
crowded? In this connection, remember the "Six Cardinal Patent Tests," 
especially the fifth and sixth. Is there a large, constant, public demand 
for my invention or its product? And is there killing competition in the 
class to which my invention belongs? Get the advice of a specialist. 



48 



CHAPTER IX. 

PRACTICAL DEVELOPMENT 

"Everything in this world is a development. Nothing happens by chance." 

Can my invention be made to do better work by putting in gears in 
place of that sprocket chain? Would canvas be cheaper and better than 
leather in that belt? Won't a cotter pin be cheaper and better in place of 
that nut? Won't a steel casting be cheaper and better than that expensive 
machined steel bearing? Would not my machine do better work and cost 
less if I stuck to just this one operation? 

Questions such as this you must ask yourself. The successful inventor 
is not a "one-idea" man. He must be on the watch for "something better 7 ' 
all the time, until he and his expert advisers are convinced by actual tests 
in actual service that it is absolutely right in every way. No invention is 
complete and perfect when it is first conceived. Its successful development 
is a series of changes, substitutions, alterations, rearrangements, until fin- 
ally it attains marketable shape. 

At a meeting of mechanical experts in Philadelphia one evening, six men 
were asked the very best way to make a certain piece of machine" work. 
There were six different answers. — "Many men of many minds." — Which 
was the best way, and why? If you take your own ideas you will possibly 
have but one way to do it, and your way may not prove the best way in 
the end. The successful invention of today dominates its particular field. 
Why? Because it is better than others. 

Successful development of any invention requires a great degree of 

patience, unlimited hard work, belief in ultimate success, and competent 

theoretical and practical knowledge of mechanics, physics, mathematics, 

salesmanship, shop practice and the like. It is a science in itself. 

"Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do well; 
whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself to completely; in great 
aims and small I have always been thoroughly in earnest." — Charles Dickens. 



49 



CHAPTER X. 

LOWER COST SUPERIOR MERIT 

"An idea of itself may be good, but still not of itself be of any value." 

Patents, to meet with even moderate commercial success, must be on a 
"human necessity" or "luxury" — must cost less and be better than the ones 
already on the market. That is this whole chapter in a nutshell. Lines 
upon lines could be said about it, but the reader will grasp the point 



50 



CHAPTER XL 

APPLICATION 

FOR PATENTS, DESIGN PATENTS, TRADE-MARKS 
LABELS AND COPYRIGHTS 

"The man who does things is the man who is doing things. The busiest man in 
the city is the man who is always ready for new business." 

"To postpone action generally means an attempt to kill by time." — John Timothy 
Stone. 

What is Patentable. . . 

An art or process, 

Machines or mechanisms, 

Manufactured articles, 

Compositions of matter, 

Improvements on any of the above, 
if the art, machine, manufactured article, composition of matter, or im- 
provement thereof, for which a Patent is desired, was not known or used 
by others, in this country, and has not been patented or described in any 
printed publication in this or any foreign country, before the applicant's 
invention or discovery thereof, and has not been in public use or on sale 
for more than two years prior to his application, unless the same is proved 
to have been abandoned. 

Usual Cost 

The cost of taking out a patent varies with different cases. In a simple 
case such as, for instance, an improvement in potato mashers, it is, ordi- 
narily, $65. Some attorneys charge $5 less, and some $10 more, according 
to their schedules. This amount is made up as follows : 

Preliminary search of Patent Office records $ 5 00 

Preparation of drawings, one sheet 5 00 

Preparation of specification and claims 20 00 

First Government fee 15 00 

Final Government fee, payable six months after allowance of patent. 20 00 

Total cost of simple one-sheet case $65 00 

Complicated machines and processes that require a large number of 
sheets of drawings and contain a great deal of detail work cost often 
times, especially if interferences develop, as much as $1000. Elsewhere in 

51 



52 Hozu to Succeed as an Inventor 

this volume is quoted the opinion of the Supreme Court as regards the im- 
portance of having the specification and claims carefully drawn. Have 
your work done well, and expect to pay a fair price for good service. 

Design Patents. 

Preparation of drawings and specification, and prosecuting case. $25 00 

Government fee, for s J A 10 00 

Government fee, for 7 15 00 

Government fee, for 14 30 00 

Copyrights. 

The cost of obtaining a Copyright, including all fees, is usually $5.00. 

Trade- marks. 

Preliminary Search, Government and Attorney's Fees $25 00 

Labels. 

Government and Attorney's Fees $16 00 

Note. — Patents run for seventeen years, and cannot be renewed. Design Patents 
run for 3%, 7 or 14 years, as the case may be. Trademarks run for thirty years, 
and longer, if desired. Label Patents run for 28 years, and may be renewed for four- 
teen years longer, if desired. Copyrights run for 28 years, and may be renewed for 
fourteen years longer, if desired. Special rates and terms are payable on "Interfer- 
ences," Infringements, Appeals and Assignments. 

Foreign Patents can be procured in all civilized countries, but should 

be applied for only after the most careful study as to whether they are 

likely to prove profitable to the inventor. We are inclined to say it is the 

exception when they do. 

* * * 

"Rules of Practice" isused by the United States Patent Office contain 
the following in regard to the importance of care in the selection of an 
attorney : 

"As the value of Patents depends largely upon the careful preparation 
of the Specification and Claims, the assistance of competent counsel will, 
in most instances, be of advantage to the applicant ; but the value of their 
services will be proportionate to their skill and honesty, and too much care 
cannot be exercised in their selection." 



"Before you spend much money, either your own or any one's else, be 
sure (1) that your invention will work; (2) that no one else has patented 



Application for Patents, Etc. 53 

it; (3) that there is an opportunity for its sale; (4) that there is not too 
much competition. Many a man starts off and orders a fancy nickel-plated 
model, and applies for his patent, only to find that the idea will not work 
even the least little bit. In this matter the advice of some one else well 
up in the theory, added to that of some one else well up in the practice, 
would be valuable. 



"Many an application done up in all the bravery of typewriting, notarial 

seal, and all that, has been rejected like a bad penny for the very simple 

reason that some one else had before patented the idea, or something 

enough like it to bar out the newcomer. It is cheaper to have the ground 

gone over first by a preliminary search by a competent person even before 

the application is written out. 

# * * 

"Don't be unduly suspicious. Don't fear that any one who takes more 
than a passing interest in your invention is going to steal it. All business 
is based more or less on trust. You trust some one every day. So does every 
one else. There is no use in your showing every Tom, Dick and Harry 
what you have, or expect to have ; but if you show a man anything at all, 
do it with trust. If he is not trustworthy, do not show him anything." — 
Dr. Grimshaw. 



CHAPTER XII. 

MARKETING 

"Anybody can slide down hill, but it takes good legs and good wind to go up." 
— Silent Partner. 

The brightest minds of the business world are endeavoring to solve the 
problem of how best to market an article. Of course, unlimited capital 
and a good article greatly lessen the problem. But to start with little or no 
money, build up a business, equip the plant, buy raw materials, hire help, 
manage a factory, establish credit, advertise, fill orders, collect accounts, 
and do the thousand and one other things necessary to make success of a 
business requires a good, virile mind, and plenty of hard work and close 
attention to detail, and should be a steady, gradual development. With 
honesty of purpose, quality of product, absolute fair-dealing, push and un- 
tiring energy as guides, any man or woman given good health, common 
sense and a fairly meritorious patented article can unquestionably succeed 
in profitably marketing it. A steady climb with unflagging zeal and single- 
ness of purpose always win out. The motto should be, "This one thing 
I do." 

It has been found from experience that it is usually well to get the best 
expert advice in connection with the establishment of a new business be- 
fore making plans for spending much money. There are specialists in all 
business lines today, and as a rule it proves to be wise economy to spend 
money in payment of their services. 

Some of the largest industrial establishments in the world are the direct 
outgrowth of a very small plant judiciously handled and energetically de- 
veloped. Of course, in marketing a product, one must know exactly what 
the product costs. Allow proper margin for management expenses, fixed 
charges, depreciation, selling expenses and the Tike. It is usually safe to 
add one hundred per cent, to the manufacturing cost for the purpose of 
covering administrative and fixed charges. Wholesale selling prices should 
always conform to the list put out by other manufacturers. In other words, 

An article retailing at 5c usually sells wholesale for 35c to 40c doz. 

" ioc " " " " 60c to 90c " 

" 25c " " " " $1.75 to $2.25 " 

" 50c " " " " $3.50 to $4.50 " 

" " " "$1.00 " " " " $7.50 to $9.00 " 

The gross prices are approximately as follows : 

On a 5c article, $4.20' to $4.80 per gross 
" ioc " $7.20 to $9.80 " 

" 25C " $21.00 tO $27.00 " 

" 50c " $42.00 to $54.00 " 
M $1.00 " $90.00 tc $108.00 " 

54 



Marketing 55 

It is usually customary to give a discount of from 5 per cent to 10 per 
cent, if ordered in gross lots. Terms of settlement show considerable 
variation in different lines, and range anywhere from 1 per cent, to 8 per 
cent, for cash in ten days, with extension of credit of from thirty days net 
to ninety days "extra dating." There are some splendid books advertised 
and published along these lines which can be had from the various pub- 
lishers. There are also weekly and monthly periodicals that will prove of 
great benefit to anyone engaging in a new business. 

Carefully prepared catalogues, stationery, printed matters, follow-up let- 
ters, etc., should be used. Consult a specialist about these matters. 

"The world always listens to a man with a will in him." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

DISCOURAGEMENTS AND DANGERS 

"When to-day's difficulties overshadow yesterday's triumphs and obscure the bright 
visions of tomorrow — 

When plans upset, and whole years of effort seem to crystallize into a single hour 
of concentrated bitterness — 

When little annoyances eat into the mind's very quick, and corrode the power to 
view things calmly — 

When the jolts of misfortune threaten to jar loose the judgment from its moor- 
ings — 

Remember that in every business, in every career, there are valleys to cross, as 
well as hills to scale, that every mountain range of hope is broken by chasms of dis- 
couragement through which run torrent streams of despair! 

To quit in the chasms is to fail. See always in your mind's eye those sunny 
summits of success 1 

Don't quit in the chasm! Keep on!" — System. 

A careful study of the histories of great inventors and inventions im- 
presses the student most forcibly with the glaring fact that while the field 
of invention offers, and has paid, fabulously large rewards to the fortunate 
genius who invents or discovers some really new device or idea, it also is a 
field full of discouragements, dangers and heart-breaking delays, disap- 
pointments and unfulfilled hopes, to say nothing of time and energy utterly 
wasted by misguided zeal and misdirected effort. We need to look at the 
matter from all angles, and study to avoid the pitfalls and dangers history 
unerringly points out to us, as well as learn thoroughly the lesson so dearly 
bought for us by the noble men and women in the army of inventors who 
have gone before. 

The following table shows the startlingly large totals of Patents and Re- 
issues issued by the United States Government since the year 1837, U P to 
last year, 1908: 

1837 435 1855 2013 1873 12864 1891 23244 

1838 520 1856 2505 1874 13599 1892 23559 

1839 425 1857 2896 1875 14837 1893 23769 

1840 473 1858 3710 1876 15595 1894 20867 

1841 495 1859 4538 1877 14187 1895 22057 

1842 517 i860 4819 1878 13444 1896 23373 

1843 519 1861 3340 1879 13213 l8 97 23794 

1844 497 1862 3521 1880 13947 l8 98 22267 

1845 503 1863 4170 1881 16584 1899 25527 

1846 638 1864 5020 1882 19267 1900 ..26499 

1847 569 1865 6616 1883 22383 1901 27373 

1848 653 1866 9450 1884 20413 1902 27886 

1849 1077 1867 13015 1885 24233 1903 31699 

1850 993 1868 13378 1886 22508 1904 30934 

1851 872 1869 13986 1887 21477 1905 30399 

1852 1019 1870 13321 1888 20506 1906 3^65 

1853 961 1871 13033 1889 24158 1907 36620 

1854 1844 1872 13590 1890 26292 1908 32757 

56 



Discouragements and Dangers 57 

The United States Government has issued, approximately, 900,000 PAT- 
ENTS. When we compare the number of patents that have proven to be 
commercial successes (in other words, money-makers), how pitifully small 
the list is by comparison! How many "blasted hopes," vanishing "air 
castles" ; how much poverty, how many wrecked homes, how many suicides 
(but why prolong this list?) are represented by those Letters Patent that 
did not win! Why did they fail? The seal was just as red, the ribbon 
just as blue, they cost just as much, the drawings were just as clear — 
then why did they fail? 

For one, any or all of the following reasons : 

1. The claims were weak, 

2. The invention would not work. 

3. The cost of manufacture was too great. 

4. The idea was feebly patentable, but not sufficiently new or novel. 

5. There was no demand for it. 

6. The big fellows froze it out ! 

Or, to be exact, they failed to stand the SIX CARDINAL TESTS given 
elsewhere. 

Don't intend to "take up inventing," as some men say, and expect to 
make a success of it, without any preparation, with little practical educa- 
tion, much less diligent study. You can't do it, unless it be by merest acci- 
dent ! Look at history. She tells the story so that all can hear and heed 
it. Think of Edison's perseverance, his all-night experiments, without food 
or drink, his life-long hard and unremitting effort. Picture George Ste- 
phenson's disappointments ; the silly opposition he met ; his constant "if 
at first you don't succeed, try, try again!" spirit! Think of John Fitch 
and his steamboat ; Ottmar Mergenthaler and his linotype, — years of trial 
and study ; remember Fulton and his "Clermont" ; the Wright Brothers, 
Wilbur and Orville, working year after year, planning, perfecting, always 
at it ! Success in invention is not "easy money." — It does not consist of 
"thinking out an idea," picking up a magazine or paper and reading a 
Patent advertisement "Free Report as to Patentability," — "No Patent No 
pay," — "Send sketch," etc., etc. ; drawing a rough pencil sketch and for- 
warding it to the attorneys the inventor picked out ; getting back a mysteri- 
ous looking certificate done up in purple ink, seals, etc., purporting to guar- 
antee that the idea is a patentable one, or he don't pay a cent. Next he 
forwards from $40 to $50 and gets back the specification and claims (the 
claims "claiming" every thing above the earth, and numbering possibly 
twenty to fifty) for his oath and signature. Then the case is filed with 



58 Hoiv to Succeed as an Inventor 

the Patent Office. After waiting anywhere from six months to several 
years the attorney notifies him that his case is "allowed" (sometimes it is 
rejected, and he has thrown his money away), and will be issued upon 
payment of the final Government fee of $20, that is, of course, provided it 
has not run into an "interference." If it has, it is to be regretted, as it 
may mean the loss of all the inventor's money in fees and expenses, and 
the loss of his case in the end. But for the sake of the story we'll say he 
gets his patent in a big, official looking envelope. He sees his name on it, 
the seal, the ribbon, the picture of the Patent Office, and his heart and 
head naturally swell with pride. But if he looks at it carefully, he will 
find the claims (and they are what count) consist of one big long para- 
graph of several hundred words, without a period in it, describing the 
exact or fancied construction, the protection in the claim being so restricted 
and limited in scope that a poor chaffeur could drive a sight-seeing auto 
through the alleged Patent without touching sides, top or bottom ! The 
twenty to fifty claims were all rejected. Then what happens? He shows 
it to his family, friends, neighbors. He gets his name in the town paper. 
He is spoken of as an "Inventor." Then he begins to wonder what he is 
going to do with it. He is dreaming possibly of millions, when it is not 
worth cents. 

When his name appears in the Official Gazette he will begin getting cir- 
culars, cunningly worded letters, postal cards, etc., mentioning his wonder- 
ful (?) invention (it may be a new paring knife!) and saying that for any 
amount ranging from $1.00 to $30.00 the writer will be glad to sell the 
patent for any amount their fertile imagination may conjure up, always 
more than ample, but after the money is sent for "advertising," "printing," 
or what not, all signs of a sale absolutely disappear. (Don't send any 
money to a firm to sell your patent unless they are known to be reliable 
and trustworthy, and don't guarantee to do anything but treat you fairly 
and make an honest effort to sell it.) The safe and rational way is to test 
your idea thoroughly in advance of having it patented, and then you are 
practically sure of a sale. 

Here is the moral : Some day he will wake up and find he might better 
have painted the house with the $65, or given it to his wife for a new 
dress. He will give up the idea of fame and fortune so alluringly set 
forth in the circulars sent out by some attorneys. 

This is an every-day case one in the business meets with all the time. 
It is all wrong, but is only too true. Authorities state that 90 per cent, of 
the patents issued today are worthless from a commercial standpoint ! Sta- 
tistics appear to prove it, although it is hard to get at the real facts. The 



Discouragements and Dangers 59 

reader may feel that the author is trying to discourage inventors from en- 
tering the field. No. All that is intended is to show and point out the 
rational course to pursue in applying for Patents and endeavoring to be a 
success as an inventor. Volumes could be written on this subject, but the 
above will serve as an average example of blasted hopes and misdirected 
effort. 

"Failure is only endeavor temporarily off the track. How foolish it would be 
to abandon it in the ditch." 

BRIGHT SIDE 

The output of all the gold, silver and diamond mines in the 
world does not equal in value the profits earned from American 
inventions. 



Probably between fifty and sixty millions of dollars have been, spent in 
procuring patents issued by the United States Government, on the basis 
that the average patent costs from $60 to $65, and there have been 900,000 
issued. To show that patents are profitable, we need only recall the fact 
that almost twice this amount has been received in profits from several of 
them, namely, the Bell Telephone, for instance, or the Harvester, Sewing 
Machine, Telegraph, Phonograph, etc. Authorities on the subject are of 
the opinion that there are almost two hundred patents in force in the 
United States today that return profits of over one million dollars per 
year ; several hundred that return half-a-rriillion dollars profit ; five or six 
hundred that return from $250,000 to $500,000 in profits ; and an enormous 
number which return incomes of from $5,000 to $100,000 annually. 



Inventive genius can exact the highest possible price, for its labor in the 
markets of the world. If you are a genius you cannot employ your time 
to better advantage than in endeavoring to improve methods at present in 
use, or invent combinations that will cheapen production, or discover new 
elements or combinations that will effect economic results. The history of 
inventions, poets, past and present, tell us that success is possible, if per- 
sistently pursued. Do not allow the dangers and discouragements that we 
must all meet with to dishearten you. As Longfellow so beautifully puts it : 

"Be still, sad heart! and cease repining^ 
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining; 
Thy fate is the common fate of all, 
Into each life some rain must fall, 
Some days must be dark and dreary." 



CHAPTER XIV. 

SELLING PATENTS 

It is not so much how you sell your patent. It is what you get for it. 

Patents can be disposed of in various ways. We are sorry to say that 
the majority of patents issued today, for reasons already stated, are dis- 
posed of on the scrap heap, or the waste basket. However, if you have a 
patent that possesses commercial value, it can possibly be disposed of in 
one of the following manners : 

First, by selling it outright for a cash consideration. 

Second, by selling state, county or shop rights for the use of your in- 
vention. 

Third, by placing it with an already established concern on a royalty 
basis. 

Fourth, by the organization of a company or partnership for its produc- 
tion and marketing. 

Taking up each one of the methods in order, the following explanations 
will possibly be of interest : 

It has often been said that an inventor rarely underestimates the value 
of his patent. Associating with and meeting large numbers of inventors 
from time to time has convinced the writer that no one individual can give 
a reliable estimate of the value of anyone's invention. If an inventor de- 
sires to sell his invention outright, he should take into consideration, in fix- 
ing the price, just how much he spent on the development of the idea; how 
much money he actually spent in procuring the patent, building the models, 
and getting the invention into marketable shape. He should add a certain 
modest percentage for good will, and if he desires to sell outright, base 
his figures on some such estimates. For instance, a small, simple patent 
could be estimated as being worth, say $2500 cash, as follows : 

Twenty weeks of time spent in developing the idea, $25 per week. .$ 500 00 

Procurement of patent 75 00 

Building of models • • 150 00 

Expert advice and counsel 25 00 

Manufactured samples, dies, tools, etc 250 00 

Good will, or present value of the patent per se 1,500 00 

Fair selling price for patent in which the time, labor, expenditures, 
etc., were approximately in accordance with the figures listed 

above, would be $2,500 00 

60 



Selling Patents 61 

The man that buys the patent will be entitled to a great deal more profit 
than the inventor who conceived it, and by the time he has it on the market 
and has the sale established, he will be entitled to everything he earns. Of 
course, there are exceptions to every rule, but the writer is not speaking of 
exceptions now. 

Another very profitable way to dispose of a patent is the selling of state, 
county and shop rights. This has brought many inventors very large re- 
turns, although it involves a good deal of selling expense, and salesman- 
ship of the highest order. 

The placing of a patent on a royalty basis, and the payment of a nominal 
cash "quid pro quo" we consider the best method of disposing of an in- 
vention, and the one most likely to prove profitable, provided, of course, 
that the firm with which the patent is placed is thoroughly reliable, and can 
energetically push its sale. Elsewhere in this volume you have read of 
the enormous sums in royalties that have been received on various success- 
ful inventions. One particular illustration at this time may not be in- 
apropos. 

Oscar Hammerstein, the New York theatre proprietor, sold his first 
cigar-making machine for $6,000 cash. The next one he invented he placed 
on a royalty, and made $250,000. This is almost a typical case. 

When the patent or its product has a sufficiently large public demand it 
is oftentimes better to organize a new company for its development and 
sale. This is done by applying for a charter under some favorable State 
laws, (it is usually expedient to apply in the State in which it is intended 
to manufacture,) and give the inventor a reasonable stock interest in the 
company, together with an executive position if he is capable of filling it. 

"You must bear some of the burden of introduction yourself. A capital- 
ist may be willing to bet his hard dollars that your idea will work, if you 
have secured a patent; or he may be induced to bet that it is patentable, if 
you show him that it will work; but moneyed men who will bet that your 
invention is both patentable and practicable are few and far between. If 
they make such a bet, it will be with very heavy odds against the inventor." 
— Grimshaw. 

Do not forget that some men have made millions out of a single patent. 

Do not forget that others have lost all they could make and borrow. 

"Victories that are easy are cheap. Those only are worth having which come 
as a result of hard fighting." 



CHAPTER XV. 

CONCLUSION 

The old adage, "Be sure you are right and then go ahead," is especially 
apropos advice to inventors. But how can you be SURE you are right? 
Only by investigation that is strictly impersonal and unprejudiced in every 
sense. You can have this work of investigation done for you — you can 
buy advice of this kind just as you can buy legal or medical advice 
from specialists. Better disburse $25 or $50 in procuring sound expert ad- 
vice than spend weeks, months and years chasing a mirage or will-o'-wisp. 
You are not compelled to accept the advice if it differs from your ideas, 
but you will most likely learn a great deal that will pay you handsomely. 

The writer is fully aware that this line of talk is opposed to the "don't 
hesitate," "send at once," "delays are dangerous," "the other fellow will 
get ahead of you" arguments so generally used by individuals who "have 
an axe to grind." BE SURE you are right, and then go ahead — don't 
THINK you are sure— BE SURE! 

The author feels that a careful weighing of all statements and facts in 
this volume will be of great value to anyone considering the application 
for a patent. History has undoubtedly proven that good patents are pos- 
sibly more profitable than any other investment that can be made. If you 
have an idea, or have made a discovery that you think will prove of benefit 
to mankind, the wise and prudent course is to have it thoroughly investi- 
gated, in all points as relate to its success. The small cost of a reliable 
investigation would be money well spent as it is possible your idea or dis- 
covery may be the means of bringing you in enormous wealth. 



62 



CHAPTER XVI. 



STATISTICS OF THE COUNTRIES OF 
THE WORLD 



COUNTRIES POPULATION 

China 426,447,000 

British Empire * 396,968,798 

Russian Empire 129,004,514 

United States (*i ) 76,303,887 

United States and islands (*2) . 89,000,000 

France and colonies 65,166,967 

German Empire, in Europe . . . 58,549,000 

Austro-Hungarian Empire 46,973,359 

Japan 44,260,604 

Netherlands and Colonies 33,042,238 

Turkish Empire 33,559,7^7 

Italy 32,449,754 

Spain 17,550,216 

Brazil 18,000,000 

Mexico 13,546,500 

Korea 10,519,000 

Congo State 8,000,000 

Persia 7,653,600 

Portugal and colonies 11,073,681 

Sweden and Norway 7,376,321 

Belgium 6,069,321 

Argentine Republic 4,800,000 

Chile 3,110,085 

Peru 3,000,000 

Switzerland 3,312,551 

Greece 2,433,806 

Denmark . 2,417,441 

Venezuela 2,444,816 

Liberia 2,060,000 

Cuba 1,600,000 

Guatemala 1,574,340 

Hayti 1,211,625 

Paraguay 600,000 

Panama 285,000 



SQ. MILES 


CAPITALS 


4,2l8,40I 


Peking. 


11,146,084 


London. 


8,660,395 


St. Petersburg. 


3,602,990 


Washington. 


3,756,884 


Washingtdn. 


3,250,000 


Paris. 


208,830 


Berlin. 


264,595 


Vienna. 


147,669 


Tokio. 


778,187 


The Hague. 


1,652,533 


Constantinople. 


110,665 


Rome. 


196,173 


Madrid. 


3,218,130 


Rio Janeiro. 


767,3^ 


City of Mexico. 


85,0OO 


Seoul. 


802,000 




636,000 


Teheran. 


951,785 


Lisbon. 


297,321 




n,373 


Brussels. 


1,095,013 


Buenos Ayres. 


256,860 


Santiago. 


405,040 


Lima. 


I5,98i 


Berne. 


24,977 


Athens. 


14,780 


Copenhagen. 


566,159 


Caracas. 


35,ooo 


Monrovia. 


44,000 


Havana. 


46,774 


N. Guatemala. 


9,830 


Port au Prince. 


145,000 


Asuncion. 


3i,57i 


Panama. 



*These estimates of the population and area include the recently acquired great 
possessions in Africa. 

(*i) Census of 1900. 

(*2) Estimated for January 1st, 1904. 



63 



6 4 



How to Succeed as an Inventor 



POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Alabama 1,828,697 

Alaska 63,592 

Arizona 122,931 

Arkansas 1,31 1,564 

California 1,485,053 

Colorado 539,700 

Connecticut 908,420 

Dakota 

Delaware 184,735 

District of Columbia 278,718 

Florida ; 528,542 

Georgia 2,216,331 

Hawaii 154,001 

Idaho 161,772 

Illinois 4,821,550 

Indiana 2,516,462 

Indian Territory 392,060 

fowa 2,231,853 

Kansas 1,470,495 

Kentucky 2,147,174 

Louisiana 1,381,625 

Maine 694,466 

Maryland 1,188,044 

Massachusetts 2,805,346 

Michigan 2,420,982 

Minnesota 1, 751,394 

Mississippi 1,551,270 

Missouri 3,106,665 



Montana 243,329 

Nebraska 1,066,300 

Nevada 4^,335 

New Hampshire 411,588 

New Jersey 1,883,699 

New Mexico 195,310 

New York 7,268,894 

North Carolina 1,893,810 

North Dakota 319,146 

Ohio 4,157,545 

Oklahoma 398,331 

Oregon 413,536 

Pennsylvania 6,302,115 

Rhode Island 428,556 

South Carolina 1,340,316 

South Dakota 401,570 

Tennessee 2,020,616 

Texas 3,048,710 

Utah 276,749 

Vermont 343,64! 

Virginia 1,854,184 

Washington 518,103 

West Virginia 958,800 

Wisconsin 2,069,042 

Wyoming 92,53* 



Total 76,303,3^>7 



Population Continental United States (including Alaska), 76,149,386 
(1900) ; Philippines, 8,000,000; Porto Rico, 953,233; Hawaii, 154,001 ; Guam, 
8,661; Amercian Samoa, 5,800; Total population, 85,271,093. Population, 
1904, estimating Continental United States, about 90,000,000. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

MECHANICAL MOVEMENTS 

In deciding upon the construction of hiodels and the development of an 
idea, the proper mechanical movements should always be very carefully 
taken into consideration. In other words, movements which simplify the 
invention, minimize friction, and add power, are always to be preferred to 
clumsy and inefficient means or methods. Every inventor, and all students 
of the mechanical arts and sciences, should arrange any mechanism which 
they may desire to produce with the least number of parts possible, and 
embracing the greatest amount of simplicity of action. 

On the following pages you will find a large number of mechanical 
movements with suitable description thereof which will undoubtedly assist 
inventors in developing and constructing their models of ideas. Most of 
the movements embraced in the following pages have appeared in various 
scientific journals and publications devoted to scientific and mechanical art. 
Study all the various movements applicable to your invention before de- 
ciding upon any particular one. 



65 



66 



How to Succeed as an Inventor 




. l. Illustrating the transmission of power by 
simple pulleys and an open belt. The pulleys in 
this case rotate in the same direction. 

2. Illustrating the transmission of power by 
simple pulleys and a crossed belt- The pulleys 
rotate in opposite directions. 

8 Showing the transmission of motion from one 
shaft to another at right angles to it by means of 
guide-pulleys. There are two guide-pulleys side 
by side, one for each leaf of the belt. 

4. Showing the transmission 'of motion from one 
shaft to another at right angles to it, without the 
use of guide-pulleys. 

6. Showing a method of engaging, disengaging, 
and reversing the upright shaft on the left The 
belt is shown on a loose pulley, and sccoidingly 
po motion is communicated to the shafts. If the 
belt be traversed on to the left-hand pulley, which 
is fast to the outer hollow shaft (b), motion is com- 
municated to the vertical shaft by the bevel-wheels 
u and c; and if it be traversed on to the right-hand 

Eulley,. which is fast to the inner shaft (a), motion 
j an opposite direction id transmitted to the ver- 
tical shaft by tho bevel-gear a and c. 



6. Stepped speed-pulleys (on the left of the figurs), 
used in lathes and machine-tools, and cone pulleys 
(on the right of the figure), used in cotton ma- 
chinery, Ac, for varying speed according to the re- 
quirements of the work being doDe. For a given 
speed of the upper shaft the speed of the lower one 
will be greater the more to the left the belt is 
placed. The cone-pulleys permit of more grada- 
tion in speed than the stepped arrangement. 

7. Spur-gearing. The wheels rotate in opposite 
directions (cf. 12). The smaller wheel has the 
greater speed of revolution, and the *peed3 of 
the wheels are in the inverse ratio of their dia- 
meters. 

8. Evans* variable friction gear. The gripping 
medium by which motion is transmitted from one 
cone to the other is a loose leather band, whose 
position can be varied by the hand-screw shown. 

9. Bevel-gearing. This is an adaptation of the 
spur-wheel priihiple to the case of non-parallel 
ax 08. 

10. A wortr or endless screw geared with a 
worm wheel. 



Mechanica I Movent en ts 



6 7 




11. Elliptical spur-gearing, used when a rotary 
motion of varyiDg speed is required. 

12. A spur-wheel geared internally with a pinion. 
The wheels rotate in the same direction (cf. 7) 

13. Spur -'gearing with oblique teeth, giving a 
more continuous bearing than 7 

14. Showing the transmission of power by rolling 
contact from one shaft to another obliquely situ- 
ated with regard to it. 

15. Different kinds of gearing for transmitting 
motion from one shaft to another arranged 
obliquely to it. 

1« Two kinds of universal joints. 

17. A method of transmitting motion from one 
shaft (the vertical) to another (the horizontal) by 
means of bevel-gearine, with a double-clutch for 
altering the direction of rotation. The bevel-wheels 
on the horizontal shaft are loose, and the direction 
of movement is determined by the side upon which 
the double-clutch is engaged. The clutch slides 
upon a key or feather fixed 00 the shaft. 

18. Transmission of two speeds by gearing The 
band is 6howu on the loose left hand pulley of the 
Jower^three. When it is moved on to the middle 

pulley, which is keyed to the shaft carrying the 
email piniori^a slow motion is transmitted to the 
lowest shaft; "but when it is on the right-hand 
pulley, which is fast to" the outer shaft carrying 
the large spur-wheel, a quick speed is transmitted. 




19. Transmission of two speeds by means of belt** 
The two outer pulleys on the lower shaft are loose, 
the two inner fast. With the belts arranged a* 
shown, the speed of the lower shaft is slower ihtjfe 
when both are traversed to the right. 



68 



How to Succeed as an Inventor 











SO. Ad intermittent circular motion in the 
direction indicated by the arrow is trans* 
tnitted to the wheel a, by means of the oscilla- 
ting rod d and the pawl b. from the reciprocal 
ting rectilinear motion of the rod c. 

21 .The continuous rotation of the shaft carry* 
ing the two cams or wipers gives to the rod a 
an intermittent alternating rectilinear mo- 
tion. The rod is raised by the action of a wiper 
on the projection b, and it falls by its own 
weight. This coutrivance is used in ore-stamp* 
era or pulverizers, power-hammers, &c. 
- 22. The reciprocating rectilinear motion of the 
rod on the right produces intermittent circular 
motion of the wheel by means of the elbow-lever 
and the pawl. The direction of motion of the 
wheel is determined by the side on which the 
pawl works. This contrivance is used in giving 
the feed-motion to planing -machines and other 
tools., 

83. The piston-rod and 'crank motion used in 
the steam-engine. The reciprocating rectilinear 
motion of the former is converted into the rotary 
motion of the latter through the agency of the 
connecting-rod (not shown). 

24. An eccentric, such as is used on the crank* 
shaft of steam-engines for communicating recip- 
rocating rectilinear motion to the slide-valves. 
It rotates round an axis not pasting through its 
centre. 




23 



I I 



26. Internal spring pawls for a ratchet brace. 
The ratchet can revolve only in ono direction 
(counterclockwise), and as it does so the springs 
are gradually compressed and suddenly released 
in turn. 

26. Frictionnawl feed motion, silent. The arrow 
shows the direction of rotation of the wheel. The 
principle of the contrivance is obvious. 

27. A heart-cam, by whose rotation uniform tra- 
versing motion is imparted to the vertical bar. 
The dotted lines show the method of obtaining 
the curve of the cam. Eight concentric circles are 
drawn with radii in arithmetical progression as 
shown, and they are divided into twelve equal 
sectors. The points on the heart-curve are deter* 
mined by the intersection of radii and circles. 

28. A quick-return crank motion, applicable to 
shaping-machines. This arrangement needs no 
explanation. 



Mechanical Movements 



69 




29. A crank motion, with the crank-wrist work- 
ing in a slotted yoke, thereby dispensing with the 
oscillating connecting-rod. 

30. A screw stamping-press, showing how recti- 
linear motion may be obtained from circular 
motion by means of a screw. 

31. A screw-cutting mechanism The rotation 
of the left-hand screw produces a uniform recti- 
linear movement of a cutter which cuts another 
screw-thread (seen on the right). The pitch of the 
screw to be cut may be varied by changing the 
sizes of the engaged spur-wheels at the bottom of 
the frame. 

32. The movable headstock of a turning lathe. 
By turning the wheel on the right hand motion 
is communicated to the 6crew, thus causing the 
spindle with the centre at its end to move in a 
straight line. 

33. Swivelling-gear for car wheels The essential 
part is the operation of the endless screw on the 
worm-wheel. The wheels are connected by a lever 
freely joined to the cranks. 

34. Diagrammatic representation of screw-gear 
to operate three worm-wheels in the same direc- 
tion, for chucks, &c. The method of working is 
obvious. 

36. A mutilated screw for eliding into a nut 
having corresponding parts of the thread cut 
away, to be fixed by a pari ial turn. It is used for 
the breech-pieces of cannon. 

36. Variable radius lever, operated by a crank 
motion to givo variable angular reciprocating 
motion to a shaft. 

87.' Hand or power feed-gear, for a drill, boring- 
saachinc. 6c. 




) ( ) U 



38. A method of doubling the length of stroke 
of a piston-rod or the throw of a crank A pinion 
revolving on a spindle attached to the connecting- 
rod is in gear with the fixed lower rack and also 
with the upper rack, which is carried by a guidc- 
rod above and i» free to move backward and 
forward. The connecting rod communicates to 
the pinion the full length of stroke, and since 
the lower rack is fixed the pinion rotates, thu» 
making the upper rack travel twice the length ©I 
the strike. 



7C 



Hozv to Succeed as a:t Inventor 




39 A toggle joint arranged for a punching- 
tr.Achine. The lever at the right operates upou 
the joint or knuckle of the toggle on the left, thus 
racing or lowering the puueh. 

4i>. A Ptone-breaker, with chilled iron jaw-faces 
ai:<l a toggle or knapping motion. 

41 An ellipsograph. The oblique traverse-bar 
cxrrien two ktudB. which slide in the grooves of 
the noss-picce. By the motion of the traverse bar 
the attached pencil is made to describe an ellipse. 

42. Link • motion valve -gear of a locomotive 
engine. The rods of the two eccentrics on the 
right are jointed to the curved slutted bar called 
the link, which can be raised or lowered by the 
system of levers terminating in the handle at the 
left. The link carries in its 6lot a slide and pin 
connected with another arrangement of levers, 



which operates on the valve-rod as shown If the 
link be so arranged that the slide is at it* centre, 
then the movement of the eccentrics will simply 
cause the liuk to oscillate about the pin of the 
slide, and the valve-rod will be at rest Otherwise 
the valve rod will move, and, if the slide be at an 
end of the link, steam will *be admitted during 
nearly the whole stroke, but if the slide occupy an 
intermediate position the period of admission of 
steam is shorter In the latter case the steam is 
worked niore or less expansively. 

43 Joy's locomotive valve gear operated by the 
coiineutiug-rod. The rod a is connected to the 
starting lever to reverse, vary, or 8top the distri- 
bution of steam by the glide-valve fcf 42). 

44 Side shaft motion for operatiug Cornish, 
Corliss, and spindle valves. 



Mechanical Movements 



71 







45. The fUeneva ©top", used in Swiss watches 
to limit the number of revolutions in winding up. 
The convex part a 6 of the upper wheel acts as the 
•top. 

46. A form of strap brake used in cranes and other 
hoisting-machines. If the lever be depressed the 
ends of the brake-strap are drawn toward each 
other, and the strap is thus tightened on the 
brake-wheel. 

47. A dynamometer, used to ascertain the amount 
©f useful effect given out by a motive-power, a is 
a smooth pulley secured on a shaft as near as pos- 
sible to tne motive-power. Two blocks of wood. 
or one block and a scries of straps fastened to a 
band or chain, are fitted to the_ pulley, and these 
sure so arranged as to bite or press upon the pulley 
by means of the screws and nuts on the top of the 
lever n. At the end of d is a scale, and the stops 
c, <? prevent the lever from travelling far from 
the horizontal position. The shaft being in motion, 
the screws are tightened and weight? are placed 
in the scale until the lever takes the position 
shown at the required rate of revolution. The 
useful effect ie then represented by the product of 
tbe weight added and the velocity ut which the 



point of suspension of the scale would revolve if 
the lever were attached to the shaft 

48. A diagrammatic sketch of a form of groove 
for ball-bearings, running horizontally, showing 
the points of bearing in the grooves. 

49- A diagrammatic sketch of a roller bearing 
for a vertical shaft, with steel balls between the 
ends of the cone-rollers to separate them and re- 
duce their friction. 

50. A diagrammatio sketch of a roller bearing 
for a wagon axle, with balls between the roller 
ends to separate them and prevent interna! fric- 
tion. Two views of the bearing are shown in order 
to make the arrangement perfectly clear. 

51. A recoil escapement for clocks. The anchoi 
h l a is made to oscillate on the axis a by the 
swing of the pendulum. The teeth of the escape- 
ment-wheel a come alternately against the outei 
surface of the pallet a and the inner surface of the 
pallet u. The pallets are not concentric to the 
axis a, and therefore a slight recoil of the wheel 
takes place after the escape of a tooth (whence the 
name of the escapement). When the pallets leave 
a tooth the teeth- slide along their surfaces*, giving 
aii impulse to the pendulum. 



72 



How to Succeed as an Invento) 




62. A dead-beat or repose escapement for clocks. 
The lettering is as in the preceding. The pallets 
are concentric with the axis a, and thus while a 
tooth is agaiust the pallet the wheel is stationary. 

83. A lever escapement of a watch. The anchor 
8 is attached to the lever e c, with the notch e.* On 
a disk d, on the axis of the balance-wheel, there is 
a pin which enters the notch at the middle of each 
vibration, causing the pallet to enter in and retire 
from between the teeth of the scape-wheel. The 
wheel gives an i impulse to each pallet alternately as 
it leaves a tooth, and the lever gives an impulse 
to the balance-wheel in opposite directions alter- 
nately. 

54. Chronometer escapement. As the balance 
rotates in the direction of the arrow, the tooth v 
presses the spring against the lever, thus pressing 
aside the lever and removing the detent from the 
tooth of the wheel. As the balance returns v presses 
aside and passes the spring without moving the 
lever, which then rests against the stop s. 

65. A parallel motion. To the left-hand end of 
the short vibrating rod in the centre the radius- 



rod is connected, to its right-hand end the 
and to its centre the piston-rod. 

66. The working of the pin in the oblique groove 
of the lower cylinder produces an alternating 
traverse of the upper shaft with its drum. 

67. A drilling-machine. Rotary motion is given 
to the vertical drill-shaft by the bevel-gearing. 
The shaft slides through the horizontal bevel- 
wheel, but is made to turn with it by a feather 
and groove. It is depressed by means of a treadle 
connected with the upper lever. 

68. Showiug how to describe a spiral line on a 
cylinder. The spur-wheel on the right gears with 
the toothed rack shown behind, thus causing the 
pencil to traverse the cylinder vertically. It also 
produces rotation of the cylinder. 

59. Wheel-work in the base of a capstan. The 
drumhead and the barrel can be rotated inde- 
pendently. If the former, which is fixed to the 
spindle, be locked to the barrel by a bolt, it turns 
the barrel with it (single-purchase}. Otherwise the 
wheel-work -somes into operation, and the dram- 
bead and barrel rotate in opposite directions wiUft 
velocities as three to one (triple-purchase). 



Mechanical Movements 



73 



<2d> 




60. A centrifugal governor for steam-engines. 
The central spindle is driven from the engine by 
the bevel-gearing, and the balls fly out under the 
action of centrifugal force. If the engine speed 
increases, the ballsdiverge farther, thus raising the 
slide at the bottom and so reducing the opening 
of the regulating- valve connected with it. If the 
speed of the engine decreases, an opposite result 
follows. 

61. Crank - shaft governor cut • off gear. Two 
hinged centrifugal weights are coupled by links 
to the cut-off eccentric 6heaves and returned by 
eprings to the full open position. 

62. A gas-engine governor. The revolving cam 
throws the vertical arm of the lever far enough to 
close the gas-valve when the speed increases be- 
yond the normal. 

63. A plan view of the Fourneyron turbine. In 
the centre are a number of fixed curved " 6hutes** 
a, which direct the water against the buckets of 
the outer wheel b, thus causing it to revolve. 

64. The Jonval turbine. The shutes are on the 
outside of adrum o, stationary within the casing b. 
The wheel c is similar, with the buckets exceeding 



the shutes in number and set at & slight tangent 
instead of radially. 

65. Montgol tiers hydraulic ram, by means of 
which a. small fall of water throws a jet to a great 
height or furnishes a supply at a high level. The 
action of the water on the two valves, which are 
alternately open, is easily comprehended. The 
right-hand one is pressed down by a weight or 
spring. The elasticity of the air gives uniformity 
to the efflux. 

66. Common lift-pump. During up-stroke lower 
valve opens end piston-valve closes, and water 
rushes up tw fill the vacuum created. During 
down-6troke lower valve closes and piston-valve 
open6, and the water passes through the piston. 
At next up-stroke it is raised by the piston aod 
passes out by the spout. 

67. Common force-pump, with two valves. When 
piston rises, the suction-valve opens and water 
enters the vacuum. When piston descends the 
suction-valve closes and the outlet-valve opens, 
and the water is forced up through the outlet- 
pipe. 

66. A double-acting piston* pump with four 
valves. 



Hoiv to Succeed as an Inventor 




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69. A hydrostatic press. Water forced by the 
pump through the small pipe into the ram 
cylinder and under the solid ram forces the latter 
«ip. The amount of force exerted on the ram 
bears to the pressure on the plunger the same 
ratio as the area of the ramdoes to the area of the 
plunger Thus, if the area of the plunger cross- 
section be two square inches and that of the ram 
four square feet, a pressure of ten pounds on the 
former will produce a pressure of 2880 pounds on 
the latter, or nearly 26 cwts. 

70 The Bourdon aneroid gauge, b is a bent 
tube closed at the ends and secured at its middle, 
c. The ends of the tube are connected with a 
toothed sector gearing with a small pinion which 
carries the indicating pointer. Pressure of steam 
or other fluid admitted to the tube tends to 
straighten it, thus moving the pointer more or 
less. 

71. An air-pump with foot and head valves. 
- 72. Root's rotary engine, used as blower and also 
fcs pump. It has two rotating pistons of special 
rhape. so arranged that air or water may be 
caught aod earned forward by their motion. 



^SL. 



73. Waygood'8 patent hydraulic balance lift. • 
is the lift-cylinder communicating with the It- 
terior of the cylinder and ram b. The cylinder >o 
and ram n are loaded to nearly balance the cage 
and ram a, and the load is raised by admitting 
pressure-water to cylinder o. 

74. An epicyclic train. The wheel .%, which in 
concentric with the revolving -frame c, gears wit*i 
r, which is fixed to the same axle as e. k gear* 
with b and d, the latter on the same axis as \. 
The driving motion may be communicated to the 
arm and one extreme wheel, a or i>, in order to 
produce an aggregate motk>n of the other extreme 
wheel; or motion maybe given to the two extreme 
wheels, thus communicating motion to the arm. 

75. Another form of epicyclic train, ro is the 
arm, secured to the central shafts upon which 
are loosely fitted the bevel-wheels c, d. The bevel- 
wheel n turns freely on vo. Motion may be given 
to the two wheels c, d to produce aggregate mo- 
tion of the arm, or to the arm and one of thesa 
wheels to produce aggregate motion of the other, t 

76. Common p slide-valve with tbrea peris: & 
diagrammaiic section. 



Mechanical Movements 



75 







77. Another form of slide-valve, partly in equi 
libriura. The arrows show the movement of the 
steam. (Like the other figures on thi6 plate, this 
one is a diagrammatic section.) 

78. A variable cut-off valve on the back of the 
main slide, the rod of which (seen above) can be 
revolved by hand or from the governor to vary the 
opening of the cut-off valves. 

79. Double-beat valve, with sunk seating. 

80. Reducing - valve, which can be adjusted by 
the balance- weight to pass fluids from a high to 
any lower pressure. 

81. An e<juilibnum-TaiT$. 



82. India-rubber di6c and grating valve. 

-83. A four-plunger vnhe. used for double-power 
hydraulic lift-cylinders employing a trunk piston 
For the low power the pressure-water acts on both 
6ides of the piston; for the double power it acts 
only on the back of the piston, the front side being 
then open to the exhaust 

84 Sketch of the Corliss valve-gear, operated by 
a single eccentric. It has two steam and two 
exhaust valves of an oscillating cylindrical type, 
worked from pins on a rocking wrist-plate. The 
sterun-valvcs have trips regulated by the gover> 
uor.. 



76 



How to Succeed as an Inventor 




85. Corliss valve, with rectangular rocking 
tpindle 

88. A favourite type of vertical overhead 
cylinder screw engine, with half • standards and 
dhtance-rods, one, two, or three cylinders, simple 
or compound. The condenser is usually in the 
back standards and the pumps behind. 

87. A pedestal beariug, with four brasses and 
set-screw adjustments 

88. A hydraulic oil-pivot for vertical- spindle. 
Oil under pressure la forced into the channels 
between the bearing facos, the area and pressure 
being adjusted to the load. The surplus oil is 
returned from the oil-well to the pump. 

89. An engine crosshead, with adjustable guide- 
Wrasses, eet up by taper keys and nuts. 



90 An equalizing lever Co distribute the load on 
two car springs. 

91 Korting's water-let condenser. It requires 
three feet head of condensing water 

92. An automatic tippingscale. When full, to 
equal the weight, it falls and tips by striking a 
fixed < top. The scale then turns over and returns 
to its positien to be refilled. 



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